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Freight ferry to finally leave in ten days      10/9/13

An Irish Sea ship will take over from the aging Stornoway freight ferry, MV Muirneag, when she comes out of service in ten days.

The 15-year-old MV Clipper Ranger, operated under the Maltese flag by Seatruck Ferries, has been chartered for a year by CalMac to provide the overnight freight service between Stornoway and Ullapool until the new £42 million MV Loch Seaforth enters service later in 2014.

Recently, the MV Clipper Ranger’s port of registry was changed to Douglas, Isle of Man. Until the weekend, she was chartered by P&O on the Irish Sea freight run between Heysam and Dublin.

The 122 metre long ship is presently in Birkenhead, Liverpool and undergoing work to modify her ramp for the Ullapool linkspan. The ship will berth stern-to.

She is much larger than the Muirneag and provides surplus space for lorries. However, the Muirneag very rarely sailed full and the lack of weight often affected her manoeuvrability in harbour.

It is understood the temporary freight ship may dock at Stornoway’s number three pier where the MV Isle of Lewis presently berths overnight.

The Clipper Ranger is a sister ship of the MV Arrow which, until about a month ago, was due to take over from the Muirneag. The Arrow had tested out various linkspans in the islands in December.

Brian Fulton, Operations Director at CalMac, said: “The MV Clipper Ranger is significantly larger than the MV Muirneag providing significantly greater capacity on this route.

“She is nearly 18 metres longer and will require some minor modifications to enable her to berth in Ullapool. The work is underway and she will arrive in Ullapool and Stornoway for berthing trials from September 19.

“MV Muirneag is due to go off hire at midday on Saturday, September 21, at which stage MV Clipper Ranger will take up the service.”

The Clipper Ranger comes with her own crew so the 25 seamen of the MV Muirneag are being offered roles within the CalMac fleet.

The Muirneag is being forced to stop the Ullapool run when her safety certifications lapse in October. She is up for sale at a price of around £600,000. She is not owned by Cal Mac but has been on charter from Harrison Clyde for the past 11 years and is presently managed by V Ships.

In 2011 she underwent a drydock in Poland to keep her within safety requirements until now but her owners are not prepared to invest the sums required to keep her going.