Ferry services from Ireland are being restructured. Last week, Stena (0870 400 6798, 01 204 7777 in Ireland, www.stenaline.com) announced its acquisition from P&O (0870 242 4777, 01 407 3434, www.poirishsea.com) of the Fleetwood-Larne route, and the purchase of five of P&O’s fleet. The £17m deal will have little impact on the Fleetwood route, which Stena will continue to operate, but Dubliners will feel the loss of P&O’s ships.

From April 1, P&O will terminate its Dublin-Mostyn and Dublin-Cherbourg routes. Those with forward bookings can transfer to P&O’s sailings from Dublin to Liverpool and Rosslare to Cherbourg. P&O will also continue its services from Larne to the Scottish ports of Cairnryan and Troon.

David Wickers

Use the scales, airlines told

INACCURATE calculation of passengers’ weight was partly responsible for a crash in North Carolina last year in which 21 people died, according to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB: www.ntsb.gov).

Its report on the US Airways accident in January 2003 concluded that the airline’s weight estimates were unreliable, making the aircraft’s rear section too heavy. When combined with the fact that mechanics had not rigged the tail flap properly, this meant the crew could not control the plane adequately, causing it to crash.

The NTSB has recommended that carriers weigh passengers occasionally to arrive at more realistic figures.