Today, Monday’s, Steam Packet schedule has been hit by further delays.

After the Ben-my-Chree’s overnight sailing from Heysham was delayed because of issues with one its anchors, the company’s fastcraft Manannan undertook this morning’s sailing to the Lancashire port and the return journey to Douglas.

This has impacted on its planned sailings to and from Liverpool today. The 3pm sailing to Merseyside will now depart at 5.30pm after suffering a further 45-minute delay.

The return leg is now not expected to depart Liverpool until 9pm as a result.

The Ben-my-Chree will undertake this evening’s 7.45pm trip to Heysham as planned.

Managing director of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, Brian Thomson, said earlier: ‘The Steam Packet Company would like to apologise to those passengers whose journeys have been affected by these disruptions; we are working to get sailings back on schedule as soon as possible and all passengers will be notified of any changes to their sailing schedules by email and text messages.’