AQW 9770/17-22

Ms Kellie Armstrong
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 05/11/2020
Answered On Date: 12/11/2020
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail (i) how many times each of the Strangford Ferry Service ferries have been out of service for maintenance or breakdown in the past twelve months; and (ii) the maintenance cost for each ferry in that time.

Answer:

(i) In the last 12 months the ferries have been out of service for maintenance or due to a breakdown as follows:

MV Strangford II - five times. Once for the planned 6 week annual refit, once due to contaminated fuel and three times to address potential faults; and

MV Portaferry II – twice. Once for its planned 6 week annual refit, which was extended into June due to COVID-19 restrictions, and once due to a fault for which we are currently awaiting delivery of specialist parts to undertake repairs.

(ii) In the last 12 months the maintenance costs for the MV Strangford II and MV Portaferry II have been £80.4k and £228.1k respectively.