Sea ice conditions delaying Saaremaa connections on Regula ferry by up to an hour
Ferry crossings to Saaremaa/Muhu with one particular vessel can take an hour longer than usual due to the ongoing difficult sea ice conditions.
The 55-year-old Regula's schedule on the Virtsu (mainland)–Kuivastu (Muhu) route is being disrupted, while the new vessel, the Piret, is running to schedule.
"Low water levels, exceptionally thick ice and unfavorable winds have created a situation where the ice has nowhere to move, causing it to accumulate in the harbors and hinder Regula's operations," said Indrek Randveer, board chair of TS Laevad, which operates Estonia's island ferry services.
"The water around the berth suitable for Regula in Kuivastu harbor is shallow even under normal conditions, and the vessel cannot approach the quay at higher speed to break the ice with momentum. The main vessels berth directly and at higher speed, whereas Regula has to berth parallel to the quay. The shore ramp at the main vessels' berth is also not suitable for Regula," he went on.
The Regula would not normally be plying the route so frequently anyway, but the Tõll ferry is in dock for maintenance, and the Regula is covering its Virtsu–Kuivastu services.
Passengers can see from their booking which vessel they are traveling on, and when traveling with Regula between Virtsu and Kuivastu, they should allow more time than usual for the journey – the first scheduled departure of the day is taking 1 hour and 30 minutes, including loading and unloading, the remainder about 30 minutes less. This is compared with a usual journey time of half an hour.
The corresponding timetable changes are visible on the praamid.ee website, and passengers who have already purchased e-tickets are being informed via SMS.
Randveer said order times for spare parts needed for the Tõll, plus free time at the shipyard, were behind the timing of the maintenance work, booked in August last year. Also, passenger volumes are lower in February regardless of the conditions; from early April, passenger numbers start to rise, which could have caused disruption to more people if the Tõll was taken in for maintenance then, Randveer said.
The lowest water level and severest ice conditions for a decade were not anticipated when the maintenance was scheduled, he added.
Earlier this month, the Regula had briefly run aground several times due to the low water levels, this time on the Hiiumaa route. The cold spell is forecast to last through to the end of this month, while the sea ice will not fully melt for many weeks after that even if the weather does warm up.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mirjam Mäekivi
