HD Ferries in dry dock in Portsmouth. (0536359)
THE missing component of HD1 that had been lost in transit has been found in France, although the courier said to have misplaced it denied any knowledge of the consignment.
HD Ferries claimed that TNT had lost the part needed to make the final repairs on HD1 before it was due to resume its service tomorrow. The re-launch has had to be delayed until Friday because it has not arrived.
But a TNT statement said it was unaware of any undelivered or delayed consignment for HD Ferries. ‘We have no record of any shipment for this company and our system shows no outstanding items due to be delivered to them,’ it said.
Phil Jones, a spokesman for HD Ferries, said the comments didn’t come as a shock to him.
‘It would not entirely surprise me that TNT don’t know what is going on. That would be consistent with the rest of our dealings with them,’ he said.
‘The equipment was delivered to a business just south of Rennes. It’s a relief that we have found it.’
HD Ferries chief executive Chris Howe-Davies had to fly to Sweden to pick up replacement components to make sure the vessel was repaired in time for Friday.
Mr Jones said yesterday: ‘The boat is currently in dry dock, but we are looking to refloat it tonight as soon as the work is done.’
The vessel had a catalogue of problems last summer including crashing into a Condor ship, having its ramp licence taken away while docked in Jersey and running on only three out of the four engines.
That fourth engine has now been fixed. Mr Jones said it had taken all winter to get the right parts commissioned.
‘You would be surprised how long it takes to line up all the parts,’ he said.
‘It’s not like you can get them off the shelf. The impeller for the fourth jet had to be made, which took several months. We also had to book dry dock time.’
He added that other repairs had been carried out while the boat was out of the water.
‘It’s a bit like your car to the garage for its annual service,’ he said.
‘You don’t know what needs to be fixed until it’s in there. We have taken this opportunity to do other things that were needed.’
Article posted on 19th March, 2008 - 2.29pm
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