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#MANX TT RACES FERRY NEWS – According to BBC News, an additional ro-ro freight-ferry has been chartered from Seatruck Ferries by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company in order to cope with demand during the TT races.

More than 11,200 motorbikes are already booked to arrive in Douglas during race fortnight, which begins on Monday. The number is the highest for a decade with the exception of the event's centenary in 2007.

The chartered vessel is the Arrow (1998/7,606grt), which will assist in peak periods. The 122m long vessel can transport around 1,000 metres of freight and is the sister ship of Helliar, which covered during the island's passenger ferry Ben-my-Chree's scheduled dry dock.

Steam Packet Company Chief Executive Mark Woodward said: "While MV Arrow doesn't bring any additional passenger space, we have already made provision for 43,000 extra seats scheduled over the TT period."

"This second chartered vessel provides additional operational resilience during the busiest time of the year."

Published in Ferry

William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland and internationally for many years, with his work appearing in leading sailing publications on both sides of the Atlantic. He has been a regular sailing columnist for four decades with national newspapers in Dublin, and has had several sailing books published in Ireland, the UK, and the US. An active sailor, he has owned a number of boats ranging from a Mirror dinghy to a Contessa 35 cruiser-racer, and has been directly involved in building and campaigning two offshore racers. His cruising experience ranges from Iceland to Spain as well as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and he has raced three times in both the Fastnet and Round Ireland Races, in addition to sailing on two round Ireland records. A member for ten years of the Council of the Irish Yachting Association (now the Irish Sailing Association), he has been writing for, and at times editing, Ireland's national sailing magazine since its earliest version more than forty years ago