UK Island Ferry Deal Goes To France

Orders have been placed for a 72m passenger ferry and a 45m cargo vessel to maintain the year-round lifeline route between the island archipelago and Penzance, in Britain’s Atlantic-facing, south-western extremities.

Since its appointment in September as preferred shipbuilder, Piriou has been developing designs for the two vessels, and construction is due to begin this coming spring, with deliveries sought ahead of the 2026 summer season.

Considerations by the Isle of Scilly Steamship Group (ISSG) as to fleet renewal, though, particularly as regards the present passenger carrying mainstay, the 1977-built Scillonian III, go back some years before discussions started with Piriou.

The current project is the outcome of a long-term plan that commenced in 2019. For the deal now in place, the Penzance-based owner has secured financing through Lombard, part of the NatWest organisation, rather than pursuing UK Government Levelling Up (LUF) funding, which it regards as imposing too many restrictions and uncertainties.

Primary construction of both newbuilds has been assigned to Piriou’s Vietnam yard, with completion and commissioning to be undertaken at the group’s Concarneau yard in Brittany.

The Scillonian IV will have capacity for 600 passengers, 24% more than Scillonian III, and will be powered and faired for faster transits, affording greater comfort through roll and pitch reduction systems. The power and propulsion arrangements, while imbuing advances in efficiency and environmental standard, will be designed to facilitate integration of future technological developments.

The new freight carrier will host a range of improvements over the 1981-built, former Norwegian vessel Gry Maritha, not least greater cargo capacity and provision for perishable, chilled and frozen goods, to the benefit of the reliability of supplies between the mainland and the islands all year round. In addition, the freight vessel will incorporate a lounge to accommodate up to 12 passengers per sailing.

Cummins, which has a marine engine production plant in the UK at Daventry, is one of the manufacturers which ISSG has been evaluating to supply main engines for the freight vessel and generating sets for both the passenger ferry and cargo vessel.

ISSG has put in place rigorous measures to ensure that the project is delivered on time and on budget, including the appointment of on-site managers to oversee the build at Piriou’s Ho Chi Minh City yard in Vietnam.

The company considers that its recourse to private finance means it will introduce much-needed new vessels in 2026 using its preferred contractor, and indicated that following the UK government’s LUF funding route could have delayed deliveries by two years, and would have imposed a public procurement process. Furthermore, a condition of LUF is that the level of profit generated by the sea link operation would be restricted to a “reasonable level”, which could limit ISSG’s ability to cross-subsidise the group’s Skybus air service to the island community

The Westminster Government had conditionally allocated a pool of £48.4m ($61.3m) under its levelling-up policy to improve the islands’ sea links.

UK shipyard group Harland & Wolff (H&W) announced last September that it had made a pitch to build and operate newbuilds for the Scillies using the proposed LUF funding. In the interim, it has established a marine services business in the West of England through the purchase of a Penzance-based workboat company, and is understood to be planning to introduce an existing, catamaran fast passenger ferry to the Scilly/mainland traffic this year.

Meanwhile, ISSG also has plans in hand for a new, small inter-island freight vessel, and said that it will provide an update on the scheme once it has received further feedback from the local population and businesses.