After a busy summer season taking passengers across the river Dart, the Lower Ferry Floats will be undergoing a refit, meaning there will be a transition from the Dartmouth ferry’s summer rota to its winter rota.

The winter rota will commence on Monday October 31st and continue until Easter, so there will be only a single ferry service running. This is so that the tugs and floats can undergo their annual refits ready for next years summer season.

A refit of a boat includes the repairing, restoring and renovating of a vessel, and in Dartmouth, there are two floats in total: two Tom’s and three Hauley’s, IV, V and VI. They all need to be kept in prime condition to help keep the district’s traffic moving from side to side during the busier seasons.

The first float, Tom Avis, will be docked for a refit from Monday November 7th for six weeks, followed by the Tom Casey at the beginning of February.  Hauley V and Hauley VI will start their refits in November.

The refits are all an essential part of the Maritime Coastguard Agency safety inspections to make sure the annual passenger certificate is continued.

South Hams District Council’s Executive Member for Commercial Strategy, Cllr Hilary Bastone, said: “We will be using extra staff on the single ferry to speed up the service, during the annual refits to keep the impact on passengers as low as possible. This means our crossings will not be much slower than when both ferries are operating.

“As always the safety of our passengers and staff is our primary concern so these annual refits are an essential part of the smooth running of the service.”

If there is a need during the winter period to increase to two ferries, for instance when the Higher Ferry carries out its own annual service, then this gap will be filled to support local residents and commuters.

For more information on the ferry, please visit: www.southhams.gov.uk/dartmouthlowerferry