On Saturday morning, 30th November, there will be a delay to the start of the scheduled third ferry coming into service. This is due to one of the two chains on Plym II being replaced over the weekend.
The new chain will be loaded onto the ferry from 08:00 on Saturday morning. Plym II will come into service as soon as the chain is loaded and ready for the remainder of the weekend engineering works. This is expected to be around the middle of the day. In the meantime we will continue with a two ferry service. Updates will be provided as soon as this stage of the work is completed.
The chain will be laid out on two lanes of the ferry, resulting in restricted deck space when the ferry does come into service, and for the remainder of the day.
The main chain change will take place on Sunday, 1 December when the ferry will be out of service in line with the schedule, this should not affect customers’ travel plans.
The second chain on Plym II will also need to be changed. This will take place on Thursday 12 and Sunday, 15 December, when a two ferry service will again be in operation for part of the weekend.
Each individual chain is over 650 metres long and weighs 23 tonnes. The chains require replacement approximately every three years.
Changing the main chains is a major engineering exercise and involves the ferry itself being used to pick up the old chain and feed in the new chain. Part of the process is ‘pulling slack’ – getting the right amount of slack and tension into the chain so that it will match operational requirements. The whole process typically takes 2-3 days depending on tide timings.
You can watch a short film about changing the chains on the ferry here :
We apologise for any delays or disruption that this essential work might cause and advise people to leave extra time for their journeys
We will keep people updated here with any delays or changes to the programme.