Sealink [SEP] parent company
mentioned above, the brand name Sealink was introduced for the consortium.
As demand for international rail travel declined and the shipping business became almost exclusively dependent on passenger and freight vehicle traffic, the ferry business was incorporated as Sealink UK Limited on 1 January 1979, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Railways Board (BRB), but still part of the Sealink consortium. In 1979, Sealink acquired Manx Line which offered services to the Isle of Man from Heysham.
On 27 July 1984 the UK Government sold Sealink UK
alongside the "Mona's Isle" (ex-"Free Enterprise III") followed by "Antrim Princess" (subsequently renamed "Tynwald") before "Manx Vikings" lease was terminated and she was returned to her owners (the parent Sealink company, by now part of Sea Containers Ltd, who had actually funded the takeover). In 1987, she was briefly renamed "Manx" for the delivery voyage to new Norwegian owners Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskap, for whom she sailed in service under the name "Skudenes". The ship