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Wave Problem for Stena

WAVES created by the tons of water needed to drive the Stena Voyager catamaran at speed across Lochryan have forced the company to abandon Stranraer.

For they were bigger than Stena Line ever anticipated, the company's Projects Director, based in Gothenburg, has admitted.

And investigations showed there was no way they could be cut if speed was to be maintained. So, Mr Haken Siewers said, the company decided to go the other route to relocate further down the loch to shorten the distance to Belfast.

Stena Voyager, he said, was introduced on the Stranraer to Belfast route in 1996.

"We managed only a few trips when we discovered the wash waves were a bigger problem than we anticipated", he told a meeting in Cairnryan on Thursday.

Because the company wanted the very best crossing to Northern Ireland they carried out a lot of investigations looking for a solution to overcome the wash problem.

But, he admitted "There are no solutions".