#HSS FASTCRAFT – Now that the HSS Stena Explorer has completed her Dun Laoghaire-Holyhead sailings on the day before Little Christmas, it would seem to be part of human nature to only value something when it is lost and only to know how precious it is when it returns, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The HSS had operated albeit briefly "12" days of service over the festive period, in what was somewhat of a surprise move by Stena Line to re-introduce these special sailings, considering that they did not take place during the same season of Winter 2011.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, in that year, for the first time, the daily operated services on the route closed, breaking a historical link of around 200 years of continuous 'ferry' services. So in the following year, 2012 was marked as the first to operate a seasonal-only service running from Spring to September.

The reduction in sailings could not be so stark since the HSS's introduction in 1996, from the heydays of up to five daily round-trips during peak-season times. A decade later the service began to decline, with reduced frequency and longer passage times.

Despite last weekend's final sailing, the HSS reopens the route for a second year of seasonal-only summer sailings starting 22 March to early September. Once again many will welcome the sight of the HSS looming over the horizon from the Kish Lighthouse and speeding her way across Dublin Bay before entering the harbour mouth.