Today’s sailings of the Ben-my-Chree have been cancelled following delays in getting her engine problems fixed.

Engineers worked throughout the night to repair and replace components of a failed turbocharger.

But further damage has been identified and additional spare parts will need to be delivered from the UK.

These are expected to arrive in the island later today.

This means that the rescheduled sailings to Heysham at 12.45pm and 6.15pm, along with the 7.45pm and tomorrow’s 2.15am sailings, have now been cancelled.

The Steam Packet is hoping to arrange an extra Manannan overnight sailing and this will be confirmed by 3pm today.

Passengers are asked to call the reservations team on 661661 to transfer to the next available sailing or registered account holders may amend their bookings online.

The Steam Packet apologised for any inconvenience this may cause to our passengers.

Chief executive Mark Woodward said: ’I want to personally apologise to our passengers and to assure you that we are doing everything we can to minimise the out-of-service time of the Ben as a result of this unexpected mechanical failure.

’With the assistance of specialists from the manufacturer of the failed turbocharger overnight, we now expect to be able to complete repairs today and have her back in service tomorrow morning.’