Scilly Ferries, a division of Harland & Wolff Group, is a new ferry operator that was due to start running in May between the Isles of Scilly and Penzance, Cornwall, but has been delayed.

The shipbuilder group announced on Friday that the new fast ferry, which is to be renamed Atlantic Wolff, has been chartered for its 90-minute service between the archipelago and mainland England and will not run until early June.

H&W’s Group’s chief executive officer, John Wood, apologized to customers who had made reservations with the operator to be marketed as Scilly Ferries, with sailings to start in May.

The CEO said the new (passenger-only) ferry Atlantic Wolff, would depart Spain for the UK in the coming days and would then need to go through a regulatory process.

He added that the process the 42-metre ferry had to go through before it could run was "significant and important," and the timescale was "a little out of our gift.".

BBC News has more on the delay of the new operator on the service off south-west England, from where Afloat adds it will operate sailings up to twice a day to and from St Mary’s, the largest of the five inhabited islands.

This week, Afloat identified the high-speed aluminium catamaran as the former Aquabus Jet 1, which departed Vilvanova, near Barcelona, on the western Mediterranean. The Damen-built 4212 design fast-ferry flagged in Tuvalu, yesterday called en route to Algeciras, has transited the Strait of Gibraltar and this morning is off Portugal, bound for Lisbon, with a final UK destination in Portsmouth.

Aside from the delayed start to the summer season, according to the Scilly Ferries website, they anticipate running the (catamaran-based) service as late into the autumn as the weather allows.

Its rival is the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group, whose origins date to 1920, operate the 2-hour, 45-minute island lifeline and popular tourist route using an aging ferry, Scillonian III, which is to be replaced by a newbuild along with a freighter.

Belfast based Harland & Wolff is to introduce a new fast ferry to the Isles of Scilly which they say has been "secured" and due to start running a service in the spring in competition with an existing company.

The boss of the rival company behind the plan, John Wood says that Harland & Wolff will have a faster and cheaper rival to the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group's (ISSG) conventional passenger-ferry Scillonian III. The fast-ferry Scilly Xpress (provisional name) will carry passengers from Penzance Harbour to Scilly from May 2024.

Earlier this year, the shipbuilder which also has a base in Devon at Appledore Shipyard, near Bideford, announced that it was hoping to break the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group's monopoly on all sea routes. 

Afloat adds, as previously reported today, that H&W have decided not to pursue in its attempts to make a bid for the ISSG which operates a seasonal passenger ferry and a year-round freight-service.

The Cornwall-Scilly route is currently uniquely operated by the ISSG which runs the veteran passenger ferry Scillonian III, the freight vessel, Gry Maritha in addition to airplane services. These aviation links are branded as the ‘Skybus’ that runs from Land's End and Cornwall Airport Newquay to St Mary's airport.

Back in September, Harland & Wolff said that there is scope for breaking this monopoly and providing an additional service which it said would benefit both islanders and visitors, promising a more frequent, faster and cheaper service. It announced proposals to build and operate two ferries - the passenger ferry The Pride of St Mary's and the freight vessel, Pride of Penzance. 

More coverage from CornwallLive which also refers to the new ferry operator's website.

The ISSG as Afloat highlighted in September, is to see the Scillonian III built in 1977 replaced with a newbuild in addition to a new freighter as the Gry Maritha dates to 1981.