Trinity replaces Valiant on Alderney service
MV TRINITY is set to arrive on her first voyage to the Bailiwick today.
Alderney Shipping Group has taken on a long-term charter for the vessel, which has previously operated around the Turkish coast.
She replaces MV Valiant, which has been moving freight between the UK, Guernsey, Jersey and Alderney for about eight years. She undertook her last rotation last week.
The company said Valiant, at nearly 30 years old, had had a difficult winter with the weather.
The replacement vessel is 13 years old and slightly larger than Valiant, at 80m long and 12m wide.
Alderney Shipping Group managing director Bruno Kay-Mouat said the coronavirus situation meant the timing was not ideal, but it had been a long road to get the new vessel.
‘We had been looking for over 12 months,’ he said.
‘She is younger, bigger and will hopefully give us a bit more resilience.’
While the vessel is not much longer than the Valiant, she has much better container capacity – up from 80 to 120.
The vessel will do one rotation to Alderney each week, as the island’s main freight service. It will also sail between Poole, Guernsey and Jersey.
Today she arrived in Alderney and picked up several sailors. This was due to MV Trinity’s slightly unusual cargo.
On board was Spike Islander – the passenger vessel that sails between Alderney and Guernsey during the summer. Unfortunately, there was not the infrastructure to offload her in Alderney.
Once it is off-loaded in St Peter Port, the sailors will take the vessel back to Alderney.
Like all inter-island sailings, the ones between Alderney and Guernsey are suspended, except for essential workers.
Mr Kay Mouat hoped Spike Islander might operate this summer if the restrictions are lifted.
MV Trinity is capable of carrying up to 12 passengers. However, due to the virus restrictions, she will operate as a freight-only vessel.
