Approximately 1,000 passengers were forced to spend last night on board a ferry in France when a technical fault led to the cancellation of a crossing from Cherbourg to Rosslare, Co Wexford.
A spokesman for Irish Ferries said the majority of the passengers left Cherbourg today on a alternative sailings arranged by the company.
A minority decided to stay on board the Oscar Wilde but the ship is not expected to be sea-ready until tomorrow evening “at the earliest”.
Some passengers took to Twitter to voice their frustration at the delay, with one man claiming a protest has been initiated on board the ferry.
The component that failed was described as a “key mechanism” in the vessel’s radar system.
It will need to be replaced and a special technician was flying to France last night in order to begin work on the ship tomorrow morning.
“Sometimes if the weather conditions were excellent, the regulators might allow a ship to move, but that’s not going to be the case with us because I understand Cherbourg, the coast around it, and the English Channel have foggy conditions so a fully functioning radar is essential,” said the spokesman.
“We have sourced a replacement part and it is making its way to Cherbourg at the moment. It’s a complex piece which means our engine room personnel wouldn’t have the expertise to install it themselves so we need a special technician to come and do the work.
“That person has been sourced and is flying in so there will be an element of commuting time. So, the part and the technician are on their way to the ship and we expect that both of them will be here by morning when work can begin. It will be tomorrow evening at the earliest that we will have the ship back in working order.
“When this thing manifested itself last night, it was clear that we couldn’t sail so we had to cancel the ship. We had 1,000 passengers. We didn’t load their cars – we left them on the quay – but we loaded the passengers and we bid them welcome to stay on board as guests of Irish Ferries.
“We accommodated them, fed them and provided refreshments and all that sort of thing. We couldn’t sail them back [today] so basically they effectively went in three directions.
“We are working with the vast proportion of them to organise alternative transportation with other carriers back to Ireland.
“Some of them decided to do their own thing and we will refund their fares. A third small group decided to stay on board our ship and use it as a hotel to extend their stay in France.”
He added that Irish Ferries was in in “full communication” with individuals who are due to sail with the company later in the week. “We’ve an open mind in terms of those people being affected. Some will make other arrangements while others will put their trips back,” he said.
Irish Ferries will post any further updates as they become available on the Sailing Updates section of their website www.irishferries.com
