Stena Line’s livestock sailings from Rosslare, Co. Wexford to Cherbourg, France, have been cancelled for another week.
The vessel entered dry dock on Tuesday, March 29, and was originally expected to resume sailing on April 12; this was then delayed until Tuesday, April 19.
In a statement to Agriland, Stena Line has now said that the boat will resume sailing on Tuesday, April 26.
While the Stena Horizon ferry is in dry dock, no livestock will be transported by Stena Line from Rosslare to Cherbourg.
At this time of the year, the Stena Horizon brings trucks carrying Irish calves from Rosslare to a lairage in Cherbourg, France, where the calves are rested and fed before continuing their journey to a new home in countries on mainland Europe.
The dry-dock period is a routine annual check-up for the vessel, however it usually takes place a few weeks later than this every year.
While some calves are still getting out to Europe, numbers are expected to be greatly reduced for the weeks that the Stena Horizon has been in dry dock.
Calf trade
The reduced capacity for calf sailings to mainland Europe has had a significant impact on the demand for export-type Friesian bull calves.
While beef prices are running substantially higher than other years, the calf trade appears to be slightly tougher across the board.
Farmer concerns on input costs involved with rearing calves, coupled with the reduced sailing capacity to service the export market, are two of the main factors cooling the calf trade currently.
Some mart managers have said that softer-type calves are a tough trade due to very little shipping activity, but well-presented, stronger calves are still a good trade.
At this time of year, the number of Friesian bull calves decrease while beef-sired calves tend to become more plentiful at marts.