We’ve had countless readers get in touch this morning alerting us to delays on the Wightlink Yarmouth to Lymington route.
Delays of up to 40 minutes have been reported, due, we’re told, to problems with low loaders getting on and off the ferries via a barge at Lymington during low tide. One reader told us that those getting on the 6.50am ferry at Yarmouth didn’t arrive at Lymington until 8am.
Wightlink have issued an amendment to their travel updates for the service, which is expected to last for at least three months, as the Lymington berth works take place to accommodate the C Class ferries.
Use alternative route if low-loader
They say,
Please be advised that during the 3 month period of the berth works at Lymington (until 29 March 2012), passengers with low sports cars and low loaders freight vehicles are advised that due to the temporary berth/ramp at Lymington that this route maybe unsuitable for these vehicles at certain states of the tides. Where possible we would recommend that the Portsmouth-Fishbourne route is used as an alternative service.
Many readers have questioned why the problems that are occuring during low tide were not considered when the plans for the berth modifcations were planned.
Wightlink response
We got in touch with Wightlink.
A spokeperson for Wightlink told VB, “The berth modification works were intended to be undertaken whilst the C Class vessels were in service as these vessels had years of experience loading/unloading off the slipways. Regrettably due to the planning and environmental issues surrounding the berth works, this was unable to be completed whilst the C Class remained available.
“To ensure that a service could operate in the event of unforeseen temporary linkspan failures, at Lymington, Fishbourne or Yarmouth a barge was constructed to enable vehicles to load/unload onto the slipway.
“This barge is now being used at Lymington whilst the main berth modification works are undertaken (a period of 3 months) and the timetable has been amended to reflect the longer operating times (an hourly timetable) that we require for loading and unloading in Lymington as the operation is more complex than operating off the linkspan.
“We are aware that there are issues around low tide with the loading and unloading of vehicles and despite making major modifications to correct the identified issues to enable low tide operation we are still experiencing problems at a very specific state of the tide (1.1m), resulting in passengers being unable to embark/disembark during this time frame, which has lead to delays. We ask that passengers bear with us whilst these essential works are taking place and we apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause.”
