New River Severn ferry plan after hull cracks

A new ferry is to be bought to transport people across the River Severn in Shrewsbury after one launched last month developed problems, the operators of the service today revealed.

Sabrina Boats has been transporting people between the Quarry and the Boathouse Inn in Porthill following the closure of the Porthill footbridge in mid-March. The service was immediately a success, with more than 1,400 passengers setting sail in the first week of operation.

But a crack in the hull of the vessel meant that operators have been making use of two smaller back-up boats for the past couple of weeks.

Andy Flavell, co-owner of Sabrina Boats, said plans were now in place to buy a new ferry, which he hopes to get on the water in the next few days.

He said trade has slowed as a result of the Easter holidays and the weather, but he expected things to pick up as summer moved closer.

Mr Flavell said: "We have had a problem with our bigger ferry boat. We have had to pull that and have two smaller boats running. There was a crack in the hull – it wasn't dangerous but not going to get any better."

Mr Flavell said they were looking at a similarly-designed catamaran to the one that was used before, but were aiming to get one that was more 'fit for purpose' than the original vessel.

He said that he hoped to have the replacement boat up and running as soon as possible.

The ferry service is due to run until late July as a £550,000 repair and refurbishment job takes place on the bridge.