Stena Line cancels Christmas sailings on high-speed service

Ferry group Stena Line has cancelled Christmas sailings between Holyhead and Dún Laoghaire, citing commercial and operational reasons.

Stena has reduced services to Dún Laoghaire in recent years, operating only during the summer season and for a few weeks over the festive period.

Services from Holyhead had been expected to resume on December 20th and run into early January.

In a statement yesterday, the ferry group said: “In recent years Stena Line has deployed the HSS [high speed service] for a few days over the Christmas holiday period on its Holyhead-Dún Laoghaire service. For commercial and operational reasons the company has decided not to reactivate the vessel this year for the Christmas holiday period.”

Stena said customers who had booked one of the Christmas sailings into Dún Laoghaire would be accommodated on other sailings “best suited to their travel requirements”.

It said it was currently in talks with Dún Laoghaire harbour “in relation to the provision of a seasonal fast craft service in 2015”. The route has been a loss-maker for the ferry group in recent years.