Oil prices slow down fast ferry

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Rising global fuel prices are forcing Irish Sea operator Stena Line to slow down its high-speed ferry.

From July its Stena Explorer ferry will take 16 minutes longer than the current 99 to cross from Holyhead on Anglesey to Dun Laoghaire, near Dublin.

Stena said the small drop in cruising speed would significantly reduce water and wind resistance, saving fuel.

It warned last year its fast services could be axed if oil reached $100 a barrel, and it is now more expensive.

However, the company said there were no immediate plans to withdraw the high-speed crossings from Holyhead.

Nigel Tilson, UK communications manager for Stena Line, said: "Due to the dramatic rise in the oil price in recent months, we've made some timetable changes to the HSS (High-Speed Ship) fast ferries on the Irish Sea routes in a bid to boost operational efficiency.

It's amazing how much we can save just by slowing the craft down Nigel Tilson, Stena Line

"We're going to lengthen the cruising time by a few minutes either end from July.

"That will help trim our fuel bill and maintain the services.

"It's amazing how much we can save just by slowing the craft down."

Stena withdrew its high-speed service between England and the Netherlands last year, when the company warned if would have to consider all such services if oil prices reached $100 a barrel.

Stena Line has recently introduce surcharges on its Irish Fuel Sea routes but Mr Tilson said there were no plans to withdraw the Holyhead fast service at the moment.

"It's a case of battening down the hatches and try to ride it out," he added.

"Stena Line considers the HSS - and so do our customers - the Concorde of the seas.

"I can say categorically there are no plans to phase HSSs out at the moment, but who knows?

Contract extension

"If oil prices go to $200 a barrel by the end of the year, we could have the same conversation and I would say, 'Guess what?'."

Mr Tilson said the company was negotiating for an extension of its contract with Dun Laoghaire harbour which is configured for HSSs only. The current contract lasts until 2011.

Anglesey MP Albert Owen MP said a number of Irish Sea services were already going slower, including the freight service.

He also said that this was normal practice when oil prices were high and that airlines also saved fuel this way.

But a spokesman for Irish Ferries said the company had not slowed its services down, had no plans to do so, and was not planning to alter its fast ferries.

The spokesman said it had been hit by higher oil prices but its fare structure meant the company had been able to absorb the increases.

• A convoy of about 30 lorries, taxis, cars and vans took part in the latest fuel protest which left from Bagillt in Flintshire on Saturday.

It made its way through Deeside towards the M56 motorway in Cheshire, to the Stanlow oil refinery outside Ellesmere Port.