THE Isle of Man ferry that crashed into a Liverpool dockside returned to service yesterday.

Fast track Viking spent three days out of service following the smash on Friday.

The Steam Packet catamaran was caught by a gust of wind as it left Liverpool, shortly after its 11.15am departure.

An 8ft gash was ripped into her hull’s port side by the concrete pontoon used for loading vehicles.

More than 600 passen- gers on board were evac- uated from the vessel as the ship’s Master declared her unseaworthy.

Passengers described being almost knocked off their feet by the impact, and then hearing a screeching sound as the concrete tore through the metal shell.

Viking left Liverpool’s Alexandra Branch Dock 3 – where it was repaired over the weekend – shortly after 11am on Monday.

The first sail Viking will undertake is Steam Packet’s Isle of Man to Belfast service, leaving at 3.30pm. She will not return to Liverpool’s ship- ping lanes until todayTuesday. The smaller Snaefell ship will fill in for her for the rest of today.

A scaled-down service from Liverpool was organised over the weekend to cater for passengers wanting to sail to the Isle of Man.

Steam Packet’s 470- capacity Snaefell was drafted in to replace Viking, which can hold 720 passengers and crew.

Overspill passengers who could not fit on Snaefell were sent to Heysham, north of Lancaster, to sail on the Ben-my-Chree.

The company cancelled their Belfast service on Saturday and Sunday’s Dublin service to cope with the loss of Viking.