Wightlink has launched Wight Sky, the second of its new ships for the Lymington to Yarmouth car ferry route to the Isle of Wight, in Croatia at a ceremony held at the Kraljevica shipyard on Saturday 12th April. This follows the January launch of sister ship Wight Light and both ferries will now undergo trials in Croatia before setting sail back to the UK.

The new ships for the Lymington-Yarmouth route form part of the £57 million investment, announced by the ferry operator at the end of March, which will involve significant upgrades to all three Wightlink routes to the Isle of Wight.

Seven year old Croatian schoolgirl Nika Radovic launched Wight Sky at Brodogradiliste Kraljevica, watched by Andrew Willson, Wightlink’s Chief Executive, Colin Stanton, Wightlink’s full time Project Manager and Vince Lovell, Wight Sky’s Project Supervisor at the shipyard. They were accompanied by a visiting team of Wightlink staff and guests, who included Naval Architects Hart Fenton, designers of the new craft, and Wightlink staff from the Lymington-Yarmouth route, who be working on the new ships when they enter service.

A large number of local ship workers and their families were at the shipyard to cheer the launch, which Wightlink Marketing Manager Kerry Jackson, who was part of the visiting Wightlink team, said went to plan. “As with the launch of our first ship, Wight Light, the event was well supported by local people as the economy of the towm is dependent on the success of the shipyard.”

Both Wight Light and Wight Sky will undergo intensive sea trials before Wightlink accepts them and starts the sail back to the UK by Wightlink crews. The journey is expected to take three weeks – with stops at Palermo, Gibraltar and La Coruna en route.

Once back in the UK, the ships will undergo further sea trials and crew operational training. Harbour authorities at Lymington and Yarmouth will monitor their performance before procedures are finalised. .

Back in Croatia, good progress is being made on the construction of the third new ship, Wight Sun, which is expected to be completed later in 2008, ready to enter service early in 2009.

The three Wight Class ships were commissioned to take over from the existing C-Class ferries and will be able to carry 15 extra cars – a total of 65 per ship - and 360 passengers, a reflection of the changing ferry trends and greater demand for travel by car.


Chief Executive Andrew Willson said that the Lymington-Yarmouth ships were the first in a series of investments by Wightlink, set to “transform the quality of the service that we can offer to all our customers. This will ensure that we have the capacity and flexibility vital to deliver an efficient, reliable service, provide better facilities and offer all round value.”
 

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

• Each ship will have four main engines – Volvo D16MHs (6 cylinder, 552 kW)

• Propulsion for each ship will be provided by 2 x Voith Schneider 21 R5/135 propeller units

• Interior design is by LAP Architects of Billericay, Essex

• During their expected lives, each ferry will undertake more than 200,000 trips and will cover more than 750,000 nautical miles

For more information, please contact:

Kerry Jackson
Marketing Manager, Isle of Wight Ferries
Tel: 023 9285 5427
kerryjackson@wightlink.co.uk

Christine Ball
CBPR
Tel: 01798 874177
cball@cballpr.co.uk