The current ship, the Huelin Dispatch, is nearing the end of its working life and has now delivered its last Christmas freight from Portsmouth after over eleven years of service.
br>The new multi-million pound vessel, which will start its service in December 2008, is currently under construction in Leer, Germany.
The state-of-the-art vessel is 85 metres long and weighs 3,600 tonnes, (compared to the Huelin Dispatch’s 79 metres and 2,291 tonnes).
It has been designed specifically to operate in the smaller Jersey and Guernsey harbours and will have an increased capacity to carry 148 freight containers, whereas the Huelin Dispatch can take up to 132.
