Strategic Sea Services

The Department of Infrastructure is seeking to put in place the foundations on which to secure the long-term future of the Isle of Man’s ferry services.

It will be recommending a set of principles to Tynwald to underpin a new strategic sea services policy aimed at securing safe, reliable, high quality and fairly priced ferry operations for the next 25 years.

The Department considers robust sea links with our neighbours to be absolutely fundamental to the economic and social wellbeing of the Isle of Man.

A key element of the Isle of Man’s sea services is the Linkspan User Agreement, which has played an important role in helping to secure modern ships, market growth, competitive fares and improved services.

The commercial contract gives the ferry operator preferential use of the King Edward Pier linkspan in exchange for a guaranteed minimum level of service.

It was first approved by Tynwald in 1995 to provide long-term stability and to enable Government to control aspects of fares and schedules.

The current User Agreement runs until 2020, with a six-year extension option that can be triggered by either party.

Further information is available via the downloadable documents on this page.