Shields Ferry returns after three months, restoring South Shields link
The Shields Ferry is back in service after three months out of action, restoring the south shields cross-river link that stopped in late January when Storm Chandra damaged the north landing. The return means the seven-minute journey between North and South Shields is running again.
One of the two ferries now makes the crossing every half hour, from around 7.45am until 8pm, seven days a week. The service carries an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 passengers a year.
Storm Chandra and the north landing
The shutdown began in late January, after Storm Chandra damaged the north landing. That left the ferry out of action for three months, removing the only remaining ferry service on the River Tyne.
The interruption mattered because the route is not a niche service. The ferry links North and South Shields across a seven-minute crossing, with departures spread across the day rather than concentrated around peak commuting times.
Pride of the Tyne and Spirit of the Tyne
Pride of the Tyne has been in service since 1993, while the smaller Spirit of the Tyne became operational in 2007. Those two vessels now carry the route that dates back through a long line of Tyne crossings.
Archive records show a river crossing between North and South Shields existed by 1377. The modern Shields Ferry can trace its origins to 1829, when the North Shields Ferry Company obtained a charter to operate on the Tyne.
Tyne ferry routes after 1967
The service has outlasted wider change on the river. The first Tyne Tunnel opened in 1967 linking Jarrow and North Shields, and by 1986 the ferry linking Hebburn and Walker/Wallsend had been discontinued. By 1929, there were 11 ferry routes between Newburn and the mouth of the river.
For passengers who depend on the crossing, the practical change is simple: the ferry is running again on its usual half-hour pattern. For the route itself, the return restores a service used by hundreds of thousands each year after a three-month gap that began with storm damage.
