Steam Packet Statement Regarding Travel Restrictions

Thu, 26 Mar 2020

Official Release from the Steam Packet (17:30 26/03/20)

Following the decision of the Isle of Man Government to close its borders to all but essential workers, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company is rescheduling its services effective from 27th March. Sailings affected will be those from 27th March until 16th April 2020

Manannan will no longer be starting her seasonal services as scheduled on Friday 27th March. All passengers booked on fast craft sailings to or from Liverpool until Friday 16th April will be given the option to transfer to the nearest available Ben-my-Chree service to or from Heysham or receive a full refund, including those booked on non-refundable special offers. Refunds will be available within a month.

Customers booked on Irish services during this period will also be offered a refund.

The Ben-my-Chree will continue to operate twice-daily services between Douglas and Heysham to maintain lifeline freight services. At this time passengers are still permitted to travel to Heysham, but Government restrictions mean they cannot return during the 21 day period from 27th March.

Any passenger intending to arrive on the Isle of Man after 06:30hrs on Friday 27th March must hold an authorisation issued by the Chief Secretary to confirm that they are required to perform specific essential work on the Island. Authorisation requests must be made 24 hours prior to the intended date and time of travel by contacting iomgexemptions@gov.im

Isle of Man Steam Packet Company Chief Executive Mark Woodward said: ‘We kindly ask for your patience as we work through this period of extremely high demand for our Reservations team. We anticipate there will be a large number of requests via telephone and email to be dealt with by our staff, and will be working through these as efficiently as we can for our customers.

‘We are committed to transporting essential food and goods to the Island and wish to reassure the Island community that our lifeline freight services are secure and will continue.’

Steam Packet Company customers with an online account can make amendments or cancellations online directly, with no need to contact the Reservations Team. Passengers that do not have an account can register online and link their booking to the new account, as long as the registered email address is the same as the one used for the initial booking.

Sailings beyond 16th April will remain under regular review and, depending on Isle of Man Government travel restrictions, may also be revised as necessary. The Company will contact passengers on any future revisions.

---