We're starting with the upwards of 70 million pound question. Having seen the site, having been there, seen it in action for the first time, do you think the Isle of Man has got value for money? The site is a really, really good site. It's a complete change from what we've had before. Whereas before you were sitting down near enough at river level, now you're up high. You can see what's going on on both sides, out to the cross the Mersey and then also inland, but across the ship canal there. And it's so much better than it was before. It's better for access for the vehicles, it's better for the pedestrians, getting from the terminal onto the boat as much better as we've seen this week. Yes, it's been one or two hiccups, but it's teething problems, but it's been so much better. It's a really good news story. What is the final figure? We won't know yet because, you know, job has just finished, if you like, but there are ongoing issues. The final bills aren't in, and then there'll be the snagging issues. And, you know, there's always that, you know, finishing off and getting that final price. Any snagging issues that we've noticed in the first week, you yourself, down there last week, of course. Any, you notice when you were there? I didn't know. We were told when we were talking to passengers that, you know, one or two issues with signage and things like that, but people will miss those, whether it be on the road. People will miss those because vehicles in front of them or they just didn't see them. That may well not be enough out there yet, but that's something we're working on. Liverpool County Council been really good to work with, and they've said, you know, they've done the signage for us, and if we need to put some more up, they'll help us with that. But obviously, some of those might need to go on private property, so we're working with those, but we don't want to thank Liverpool County Council for working with us. Brian Thompson, you mentioned at the time the captains and the crews will take a bit of time to get used to it. How was the first week gone? First week's gone really, really well. As you've just said, the staff at the new terminal have to get used to that transition. We're sort of got people along at the old facility, directing them, you know, if they've come to their own place, directing them how to get to the new terminal. So yeah, we consider that will happen for a few weeks yet, but once people realise where the new terminal is, this is the way to go. I think it will settle down nicely. I think the road route into the new terminal is much better than the previous one, food passengers as well. It's a five, 10 minute walk from the previous one. Just some nice coffee shops along the way that you can stop at. So yeah, there's the facilities are there, so it should be better in the long run. In terms of getting them in and in and out, last week, we did see a couple of delays to the schedule. One time, tidal conditions will blame the next time I believe operational reasons it was put down to. What's behind that? Is that something we can expect? As Tim's alluded to, these are just small teething problems that will get over as time goes on. You know, like a water in the meowsy is something that we can't do anything about. You know, the ship needs a water to be deep enough for it to get in at the bath. And that was like what happened one day last week. So scheduling, going forward can look at that and we can mitigate most things. Is it like a water or build up of silts as well around the site? It's probably a bit of both. But that should be alleviated by a dredging programme. The dredging programme, how often is that running? Is that being looked at now to consider what's maybe needed? Is it more frequent than was expected? That's no something I can really talk about. You know, we run the ferry. I'll pass over to Tim. Yeah, from our point of view. I mean, there was an issue last week and it had actually been dredged the week before. When it's dredged, they come back and they do a test and they do the depth soundings on that. That was correct. The new charts hadn't been passed on to the steam packet, which is where on Tuesday morning when we watched the birthing trials, it was fine. And it was obviously fine Tuesday afternoon. But on the Thursday, the skipper of the boat hadn't had those new depth soundings. So he took that choice. And that's his choice, perfectly right, from the safety point of view, to wait, I think it was about half an hour, three quarters an hour, whatever it was. You know, he had to go by what he had. So that's what he was working to. But we will see, I think the more the boat is in there, obviously twice a day, it'll clear the seal underneath. So it shouldn't, it should be less of a problem if you like. Yeah, and obviously going forwards, the plan is, I remember you saying this at, it's a committee a couple months back, Brian, about the plan, of course, to have a year round service to Liverpool. So getting the marksman in there, is that going to help alleviate the, the silt issue as well? Yeah, I think any vessel going alongside should help without a shoe. The manannan then, how is it taking it? We've seen pictures suggesting some modifications needed to be made in terms of the depth of the water and access for people getting off the boat, is that right? Yeah, so there's a platform on the port side forward for the passenger access system to land on and people come down. Is that being used already? It's going to be a news, yeah. It's going to be a news, okay. And in terms of then, obviously, this has been an ongoing process. How is the working relationship now between the D.A.Y, the Government Government and the steam packet? I think, for my point of view, I think it's a good working relationship. If Brian's got any problems, he relays them to us and we try to sort them out. And that's here in Douglas more than across. Obviously we've been working across very closely together for the last, well, certainly for the last year as we come towards the end of this project, but I suppose, in fact, probably for eight years since this idea was first mooted, but certainly in the last four years while the project's been built. But we have a good working relationship. I can speak to Brian. He speaks to me and the officers as well. So if there's any issues, we try and sort them out as soon as possible. We did hear about issues with a lease agreement earlier in the year. All wrapped up now, how is that looking? I think it's, Brian signed the license at the moment. It's a six month license at the moment while we concentrate on the actual long-term lease agreement, but that's signed and they're going in and out. So, yeah. And what does that look like? What are the details of that? That's really something we can talk about. Thanks so that allows us to use the facility as Tim's just said, so the license is there. That says we'll use the facility. And that was important, I suppose, to get that six month agreement in because you were quite keen, of course, to have it before TT. It didn't happen. So was there a bit of impetus after the TT to just get it going as soon as possible? Yeah, I think the years that falls around TT for everyone, I think I'm sure it's the same for you guys, just a workload for everyone. You can only imagine the workload for the guys on board and for the guys I showed as well, working for the Steam packet. So I think we've done really well, actually, to have it so close to TT to be in there. It has been pointed out to me. We had this photograph taken outside of the ferry terminal last week. It's been pointed out that it didn't seem there was the designer contractor or project manager in that photograph. Can you tell me how come? I'm told they're typically there on grand openings like this. Is there any ongoing issues there? No, some of the team were there, and obviously Mr. Whitaker was there from Peel, but the Lord Mayor from Liverpool County Council was there. Contractors obviously moved on to another job, so there will be a formal opening, if you like, a plaque laying ceremony later on, probably in a couple of three months, whatever. But no, there was absolutely nothing in that at all. Manksman arrived a year ago today. Of course, while I've got you in here, there was crowds of people out on Douglas Heads awaiting the arrival, quite excited. Do you think that level of excitement is still there for the Manksman? How has it been? Absolutely. Any time I see all in the Manksman, you could sport the people who are on it for the first time. I guess that at the facilities it's available. I mean, I think the Corny Coffee shop sort of forward on Dick's Avenue is hugely popular, and I think that'll continue as long as new people keep coming to the island. I think they'll always be surprised by just how amazing it is. And Tim, you mentioned teething issues with the new ferry terminal as well. What do you think we can see happen there over the next six months? And what issues need to be tackled first? I don't know. I mean, the signage one is one. And we had a question yesterday from one of my colleagues who's a constituent who got onto him and said there was no baby-changing facilities upstairs. Actually, there was, but whoever he asked wasn't aware of them, so it's things like that. Just making sure that all the staff are aware of what facilities are available. But just making sure that people can find out A, how to get in or get out of the place. And B, just use the place. But it worked really well last Tuesday, using the passenger access system onto the boat and that was really good. It was quick. Yeah, I can't remember how many foot passengers it were, but they were on board very, very quickly. And the system seems to work really well. Can I just pick up as well? The bus route started yesterday as well, in and out of the town. And that will, it's, let me just get this right now. So, from Liverpool bus station, for every half an hour, from 10 a.m. until 1.30, and then from 5 p.m. until 7 and that's at the moment. And then from the 21st of July, it will be full daily timetable, operational, from Liverpool one out to the boat, from 7 a.m. in the morning until 7 p.m. at night. And that's every half an hour. So, again, we want to thank Liverpool Council, they've delivered on that, they said they would do, and they put that into their bus timetable. So, thank them for that. Have we heard about any issues of people, passengers perhaps being unaware and going to the site of the autumn? Well, I hear access isn't as great from peerheads to where we are now. Is that right? Yeah, I think you have to just be aware, when there's a cruise ship in the close of that road, you can get access through the hotel's car park and along the inside of the dock there, until you've been there a few times, that's really difficult. But there is signage here, we've got members of staff there to direct people as well. Liverpool can be a bit of a nightmare to negotiate the traffic at the best of times. What's the best way, once you're into the centre, to find your way to the terminal? Put it into your site now for the ride, so... Yeah, I think it's important that you get the details for the new terminal and head directly there. Going to the old one to be redirected, just makes it more complicated, as we've said. If that road's closed as well, you're coming in, you've been at your turn round and go back out onto the main road. But really, if you go back up past that main road and take a left at Costco, if I can say that there, at the terminals down that way, basically. And that's something that was picked up last year's as well. Steam packet seems to have been in touch with everybody and said, "Don't forget, use the new terminal this afternoon "and gave them the address and the postcode and things. "The postcode didn't work. "We wanted two of the Uber drivers, we're told." But everybody had had that message from Steam packet and the signs were out and they had somebody down at the old terminal pointing them up to the new one. So, I didn't hear any complaints, there might have been, but I certainly didn't have any complaints from anybody saying, you know... I think the customers, the actual people sale and have been really understanding, you know, we've redirected them as required. They've got to where they've got to go. I haven't heard of anyone missing the ferry. So, we've managed that very well. I think it's like anything. You can say, "What about this? What about that?" I think we're doing our best. With that price tag, of course, what you say, the final figure is you have to be determined. People are always going to want to see what that money's gone towards. So, I'll come back to that first question if I may. Do you think the other man has got value for money? That's a really hard question to answer because, I mean, there was so much work done underground, if you like, on this, that we've seen over the last four years, you know, and it was very, very expensive. And you had two years near enough of COVID and you had what went on in Ukraine, and the surprise has increased and all sorts of things. But as I said, it's an ongoing discussion, you know, and prices haven't been decided, you know, the cost, the final cost hasn't been decided yet. Could it possibly even come down if any, you know, if there were any areas that we're unhappy with. And we say, actually, you owe us some money back for what we've spent there. That would be nice. We'll have to wait and say, I'm not involved in that. Obviously, there's the financial team involved in that. Yeah. Any ongoing legal action? Legal action? No, definitely not. And Brian, what about you? Do you think value for money-wise, it's a good facility? I think I can only really talk about the facility from an operational point of view. And for us, I think the time's already alluded to it. It's a better facility for the customer. It's a better experience for getting on the ferry. So that's really my perspective on it. And the captain's in crew as well. Is it a better facility for them? Are they getting used to it now? I think it's probably a bit trickier for a captain for the captain, if you ask him. But then it is new. And I think any change to your scheduled ferry service is a big change because, you know, they're used to going in and out of the same place all the time. I think the crew on land, you know, you can see they've come from working on a floating concrete porta cabin to now working on this facility. So I think for them, it's great. Feel free to get technical. What are the extra difficulties there? Yeah, just maneuvering to a different facility. It's the same for any ship going to any port. So we've had to get extra pilotage certificates for our captains as well for getting in and out of that bath. So that'd be the same if you'll go to any port that you've never been to before. You normally need a pilot, which is an extra complication. I'm having somebody board the vessel and stand beside the captain and bring them in and out. Like our famous Stevie Carter does here. Thank you for making it to the end of the Manxeradian newscast. You are obviously someone with exquisite taste. May I politely suggest you might want to subscribe to this and a wide range of Manxeradia podcasts at your favourite podcast provider. So our best bits will magically appear on your smartphone. Thank you. (gentle music) [ Silence ]
