Both Condor Ferries’ HSC were at Poole on 6 January, Condor Liberation (2010/6,307gt) departing for the Channel Islands and Cherbourg as Condor Voyager (2000/6,581gt) was inbound empty from St Malo, both vessels exchanging whistle greetings as they passed in the Swash Channel.
Codor Voyager was in Poole for inspections including deployment of its MES evacuation equipment alongside ro-ro berth 2 before heading to Cherbourg the following day for overhaul on the port’s synchrolift.
Cherbourg had been substituted as the French port due to planned maintenance taking place on the St Malo linkspan.
Meanwhile, a reported engine failure forced the cancellation of the Liberation’s sailing from Cherbourg on 7 January, resulting in Condor’s conventional ferry Commodore Clipper (1999/14,000gt) diverting to the French port to collect stranded traffic, giving the unusual sight of three Condor vessels in Cherbourg at the same time.
Photo and report by Kevin Mitchell
