Norman Voyager service suspended once more
Ferry Online Travel News 03/12/2009
Celtic Link Ferries unable to provide new start date
Travellers hoping to ride the new cross-Chanel ferry service between Portsmouth in England and Cherbourg in France will have to wait a little longer. Due to set sail this week, the service has been suspended once again.
Celtic Link Ferries originally launched the new service in October, after a stalled start. However, one of the vessels was impounded in Portsmouth over safety concerns this week, causing the entire service to be suspended.
Celtic Link Ferries markets itself as “the real low fare ferries company”, but it seems as though they may have been cutting too many corners in order to maintain this image and offer passengers cost ticket prices.
In a recent interview, a spokeswoman for Celtic Link Ferries announced that: “We regret that the Portsmouth Cherbourg route has been suspended indefinitely. We are in the process of contacting all those who have booked to give a full refund.”
When she was asked when the service would actually commence the spokeswoman was unable comment, although she did reveal that the company’s Cherbourg to Rosslare service is operating as normal.
The impounded vessel is known as the Norman Voyager, which is intended for cross-Channel sailing. The ship was actually detained by inspectors at Portsmouth on November 19, just minutes before it was due to sail. It seems that the crew failed basic safety tests, causing Portsmouth inspectors to take a closer look at the vessel.
In a statement the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the tests related to fire safety, the “watertight integrity” of the vessel and staff safety training.
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