Shields Ferry to be suspended all month
The Shields Ferry will be out of action for the rest of February, it has emerged.
The Shields Ferry will be out of action for the rest of February, it has emerged.
Transport bosses have announced that the ferry service is set to remain suspended for the remainder of the month, after damage sustained to its North Shields landing during Storm Chandra.
It has been off since last Thursday, January 29, and replacement buses through the Tyne Tunnel have been running in its place.
Officials at operator Nexus had hoped that the ferry would be back within a matter of days, saying on Monday that they were “working hard to get the repairs completed this week”.
But underwater inspections have since revealed that the “significant” damage is worse than initially feared and it will now take several weeks to return the north landing to a safe condition.
It means that the quick ferry connection from North to South Shields, which takes only seven minutes, will remain severed for the rest of February.
The replacement bus is running between the two landings, leaving on and at half past the hour, but takes considerably longer than the ferry would.
Cyclists trying to cross the river have been advised to use the Tyne Pedestrian Tunnel instead, as bikes are not allowed on the buses, but that is further up river between Jarrow and Howdon.
There have been concerns about the state of the North Shields ferry landing, which was modernised in 2004, for several years.
Its deteriorating condition led to warnings that the service was at risk of being permanently closed down if a replacement jetty was not built.
A new development at the North Shields Fish Quay is now in progress, after a lengthy wait to secure enough funding for the project as its costs spiralled. But that £24 million scheme will not be completed until 2027.
While the existing landing is not deemed to be so severely damaged that it cannot be returned to a functional state in the meantime, that work now looks set to be more time-consuming and expensive than previously expected.
John Souter, Head of Customer Service Operations at Nexus, said: “Unfortunately the temporary closure of the Shields Ferry will continue throughout February due to recent storm damage. Detailed inspections have found additional issues with the structure.
“We are working hard to get the landing fixed so that we can restore services as usual. The works that we need to carry out are extensive and will take at least a few weeks to complete.
“The repairs will need to be undertaken by specialist maritime engineers and we are working closely with them now to get this resolved as soon as possible. We’re sorry for the ongoing inconvenience caused to our customers.”