The Department of Infrastructure has provided an update on the work being undertaken on the King Edward VIII Pier to accommodate the Manxman.

Northern Irish contractors McLaughlin & Harvey have taken delivery of and commissioned a 200-tonne crawler crane at the end of the pier.

This has enabled the installation of the first of six temporary piles at the end of the pier to begin.

These piles will help create a temporary working platform, which will allow the two large diameter 30-metre-long dolphin piles to be drilled and installed into the sea bed.

The quayside passenger walkway has been diverted to create a suitable working space to install the three new storm mooring bollards.

Final preparations are being made to start drilling ground anchors diagonally into the rock below the pier to support the new bollards.

The anchors are approximately 40 metres long and will be secured into the rock around 22 metres below the top of the pier.

Each of the three bollards requires two ground anchors.

Off-site, the manufacturing of the two 30-metre-long 2.2-metre-diameter piles is approaching completion in Cardiff.

New fenders have been manufactured in China and are currently being shipped to the UK.

The work, which is due to be completed in the new year and has been allocated a budget of £6.61m, is being carried out to reduce the risk of damage to both the pier and new vessel during Force 10 winds.

The Manxman is also eight metres longer and three metres wider than the Ben-my-Chree and weighs almost twice as much — 24,161 tonnes compared to 12,504 tonnes.

The vessel is more powerful than the Ben-my-Chree and improved scour protection measures will also be installed as part of the work to protect the pier wall from the effects of water propulsion as the vessel manoeuvres.