Everywhere else has ferries, but the Isle of Man has boats.  A rose by any other name...

As many of you know, our new boat Manxman promised a lot but is turning out to be a bit rubbish (stop giggling at the back there ladies).  The boat's owner, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co., is the oldest shipping company in the world.  With its home port in Douglas it has almost a monopoly of things carried to and from the island.  Almost but not quite.

W.S. Mezeron is a shipping company based in Ramsey, the Isle of Man's biggest town now that the capital Douglas has been elevated to a city.  Most of Mezeron's work is done by Silver River, seen above unloading at Ramsey.  Mezeron mainly handles container freight but, judging by the brand-new transit van on its deck, is quite happy to carry other items for paying customers.  Or perhaps it wasn't a brand-new van, just a frustrated passenger defecting from the Steam Packet as Manxman fails, once again, to cross half of the Irish Sea.

Post, now carried by the boat, doesn't arrive, businesses suffer - we've been waiting a week for something sent by a supplier - but Tynwald doesn't appear to care.

The Manx government seems to have a history of buying vehicles which turn out to be not fit for purpose.  In December 2013 it purchased a diesel locomotive (at a cost of £420,000) which has been so problematic that it was last used in 2021, and then only for two days.  Disliked and useless the loco is know as The Cabbage.

Perhaps Manxman should be The Mangelwurzel?


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