Manannan repairs to take longer than expected

Repairs on one of the Steam Packet Company's fastcraft are to take longer than expected.

The operator had hoped to have Manannan running on all four engines by the start of the school summer holidays.

The vessel suffered a crankshaft failure at the end of June, with engineers predicting the repairs would take three weeks.

However, closer inspection of the affected engine has revealed that more work must be done to prevent the same problem happening again.

As a result the round the Island trips on the Manannan taking place over the next few weeks have been cancelled.

Yesterday it was revealed that the smaller fastcraft, Snaefell, has also suffered a crankshaft failure.

Timetable changes have been made to the Belfast and Dublin routes.