MV ''Wight Sky'' is a new design of

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

car and passenger ferry operating on

Wightlink Wightlink is a ferry company operating routes across The Solent between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in the south of England. It operates car ferries between Lymington and Yarmouth, and Portsmouth and Fishbourne and a fast passenger-only ...

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...

Yarmouth Yarmouth may refer to: Places Canada *Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia **Yarmouth, Nova Scotia **Municipality of the District of Yarmouth **Yarmouth (provincial electoral district) **Yarmouth (electoral district) * Yarmouth Township, Ontario *New ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

route.

History

''Wight Sky'' was constructed at the

Kraljevica Kraljevica (known as ''Porto Re'' in Italian and literally translated as "King's cove" in English) is a town in the Kvarner region of Croatia, located between Rijeka and Crikvenica, approximately thirty kilometers from Opatija and near the entran ...

shipyard in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

and launched on 12 April 2008. After fitting out, she left Croatia on 15 September 2008 and arrived in Portsmouth on 2 October 2008.

Design

''Wight Sky'', the second of three new vessels built for

, is a completely new design of vessel with more comfortable passenger facilities. The design by naval architects Hart Fenton & Company (now Houlder Ltd), utilises fixed and mobile mezzanine decks, complete disabled access and a larger cafe and sundeck area. There is a passenger lift between the car deck and passenger decks. The new vessels do not have the additional third deck of the old C-class ferries, with the space incorporated into the passenger lounges. They are intended to last as long as the C-class vessels they replace.

Service

''Wight Sky'' is in service on the

crossing, with her sister ships ''Wight Light'' and ''Wight Sun''. The ''Wight'' class vessels should be able to run to the existing timetable, with a scheduled crossing time of 30 minutes and 15 minutes turnaround. The three previous vessels that ran the Lymington to Yarmouth route were retired and initially stored at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. 35-year-old ''Cenred'' was brought back into service on 12 March 2009, when ''Wight Light'' broke down and was taken out of service for repairs to her hydraulic ramp.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wight Sky Ships of Wightlink 2008 ships