Condor Ferries have been moving their ships round over the past month or so as annual maintenance work and dry dockings are carried out.
Following her dry-docking and overhaul in Falmouth, the Austal-built HSC Condor Liberation (2010/6,307gt) arrived back at Poole on 14 December.
Condor Ferries’ Portsmouth-based freight ship Commodore Goodwill (1996/11,166gt) arrived for its regular Christmas layover at Poole on 24 December 2023, using Poole because of the lack of available berths at Portsmouth.
Commodore Goodwill was scheduled to leave on 27 December, but this was delayed by one day due to the storm force conditions.
Meanwhile, MN Pelican (1999/12,076gt) was dry-docked at Brest during December 2023 for a month-long overhaul by Damen Shiprepair, arriving there on 20 December 2023 directly from Poole.
Work on the ship which was carried out included painting, attention to the cargo doors and overhaul of the boilers, pipe work and electrical wiring.
MN Pelican has been chartered by Brittany Ferries for twice-weekly sailings to Bilbao since 2016, but at the moment she does not appear in timetables after September 2024.
Last but not least, Barfleur (1992/20,133gt) was sent for winter lay-up along the Caen Canal in France but will be used as relief vessel at Portsmouth before resuming the Poole-Cherbourg route from 14 March.
Report and photo by Kevin Mitchell
