When the company decided to close down that service it approached TTS Marine in Norway to ask them come up with a way to move two of the linkspans for use on the Belfast–Stranraer route. With the cranes originally used to install the linkspans unavailable, the TTS engineers decided that the best alternative was a skidding and jack-up operation. Using a giant North Sea barge as the main jack-up platform and transport vessel, the outer end of the linkspan was moved on to the barge and the pontoon was removed from the linkspan, essentially by cutting off its legs. Once the barge reached the Harland and Wolff shipyard, one of the company’s two giant cranes was used to lift the linkspans off the barge and put them into storage for the winter, during which time TTS carried out refurbishment work on them. In April, the team returned to Belfast to install one of the linkspans in the new Victoria Terminal Four in time for a May completion date, Lloyd’s Register having made checks on the key components.