As 2024 comes to a close, we review what has been a historic year for the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group’s New Vessels Replacement Project.

It began in January, when we signed landmark contracts with shipbuilder Piriou to bring two new vessels into service on the Penzance to the Isles of Scilly route in 2026.

Building work officially began on Scillonian IV and Menawethan in June, with the first steels being cut during a special ceremony at Piriou’s shipyard in Vietnam. This important milestone was attended by senior company executives from ISSG and Piriou, including our CEO Stuart Reid.

Since then, substantial progress has been made in the build process and in November, we proudly marked the official “birth date” of the two new ships with a keel laying ceremony.

Guests included British Ambassador to Vietnam, Iain Frew; British Consul General, Ms. Alexandra Smith and her French Counterpart and Mrs Emmanuelle Pavillon-Grosser.

Dignitaries were accompanied by senior management from both shipbuilder Piriou and ISSG. As part of the occasion, a coin was laid in the keel of each vessel, which is a shipbuilding tradition. The ceremony is designed as a kind of blessing, bringing good fortune to the ship and its crew.

Scillonian IV and Menawethan are being built alongside each other, to ISSG’s detailed specifications, by Piriou’s expert teams of engineers and fabricators. The build is being overseen in Vietnam by ISSG project managers, Chris Lingham and Peter Broad, who relocated to Vietnam in June and will remain there until the vessels have left the shipyard.

Now, five-and-a-half months into the build, notable progress has been made on both ships, with about 40% of Scillonian IV’s hull structures and 70% of Menawethan’s hull structures being fabricated.