Irish Ferries

Irish Ferries is an Irish ferry and transport company that operates passenger and freight services on routes between Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, including Dublin Port–Holyhead; Rosslare Europort to Pembroke as well as Dublin Port-Cherbourg in France.

Irish Ferries Ltd

Type	Division
Industry	Transportation & Tourism
Predecessor	B&I Line; Irish Continental Line
Founded	1973
Headquarters	Dublin, Ireland
Number of locations	Dublin Port, Ireland, Holyhead Port, Wales, Rosslare Europort, Ireland, Pembroke Dock, Wales, Cherbourg, France.
Area served	United Kingdom, Ireland & France.
Key people	Eamonn Rothwell, CEO, Andrew Sheen Managing Director
Services	Passenger & vehicle transportation, Freight transportation;
Parent	Irish Continental Group
Divisions	Irish Ferries; Eucon
Subsidiaries	Irish Ferries Freight; Dublin Ferryport Terminals; Belfast Container Terminal
Website	www.irishferries.com

Irish Ferries route map

The company is a division of the Irish Continental Group (ICG) which trades on the Irish Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. ICG also owns the Eucon container line which operates vessels on routes operating between Ireland and the continent.

Irish Ferries' flagship, MV Ulysses, is currently the largest ROPAX ferry operating on the Irish Sea and when launched in 2001 was the world's largest car ferry in terms of car-carrying capacity. Other ships in the fleet include MS Isle of Inishmore, MV W.B. Yeats and the fast ferry Dublin Swift (preceded by HSC Jonathan Swift, which operated until 2018). The company also charters in a ro-pax vessel, MS Epsilon. The company used to charter MV Kaitaki which was sold to Interisland Line and Pride of Bilbao, but sold her to St. Peter Line in 2013, who renamed her Princess Anastasia.

History

Irish Continental Line was formed in 1973 as a joint venture between Irish Shipping, Fearnley & Eger and Swedish company Lion Ferry.[1] It originally operated on the Rosslare–Le Havre route with the 547 berth, 210 car ferry Saint Patrick.[2] When Irish Shipping went into liquidation in 1984, Irish Continental Line was sold off in a management buyout and emerged as Irish Continental Group.

In 1992, ICG took over the British and Irish Steam Packet Company Limited, a nationalised company which traded under the name B&I Line and operated ferry services between Dublin and Holyhead and between Rosslare and Pembroke Dock.

Investment

As part of its offer to buy B&I Line, management at ICG undertook to invest in replacing what was an ageing fleet. Over the following decade, a programme of fleet renewal was undertaken involving investment of €500 million to create what was described as the most modern ferry fleet in western Europe (1).

New vessels were built such as Ulysses, Isle of Innisfree (now on charter in New Zealand as Kaitaki), Isle of Inishmore and a fast ferry Jonathan Swift, all for service on its Ireland–UK routes. As a result, the company put itself in a position to attract increased passenger and freight business, influenced by the modern facilities and improved reliability of each vessel and the extra capacity that was available on board.

On 31 May 2016, ICG announced that it had entered into an agreement with the German company Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft to build a cruise ferry MV W.B. Yeats at a contract price of €144 million. The new cruise ferry can accommodate 1,880 passengers and crew, with 435 cabins and with capacity for 2,800 lane metres of freight (165 freight vehicles) plus an additional dedicated car deck with capacity for 300 passenger cars.[3] Summer 2018 bookings for the new ferry were cancelled due to delays in its delivery from the shipyard.[4]

Awards

In 2001, the newly completed vessel Ulysses was awarded the title 'Most Significant Newbuild – Ferry' by Lloyds List Cruise & Ferry.[5] In 2019, the latest addition to its fleet, W.B. Yeats was awarded the 'Ferry Concept Award' and the 'Interior Architecture Award' at the international Shippax Industry Awards.

Controversy

Irish Ferries was at the centre of an industrial relations controversy in 2005 after the company replaced almost 500 crew through an outsourcing arrangement.

Fleet

In 2005, Irish Ferries began to re-register its fleet under flags of convenience,[6][7] enabling the company to save approximately €11.5 million[8] by replacing crew with agency staff. As of February 2018, all vessels owned by Irish Ferries or Irish Continental Group are registered in either the Bahamas or Cyprus

Ship	Built	Entered Service	Route	Crossing Times	Gross Tonnage	Notes	Flag	Image
Isle of Inishmore	1997	1997	Rosslare - Pembroke Dock	4 hours	34,031 GT	Carrying up to 2,200 passengers and 855 cars.	Cyprus
Ulysses	2001	2001	Dublin - Holyhead	3 hours 15 minutes	50,938 GT	One of the largest ro-pax ferries currently operating on the Irish Sea, carrying up to 1,875 passengers and 1,342 cars.	Cyprus
Epsilon	2011	2014	Dublin - Holyhead Dublin – Cherbourg	3 hrs 25 minutes 19 hours	26,375 GT	Operating Dublin - Holyhead (Weekdays) and Dublin to Cherbourg (Weekend)	Italy
Dublin Swift	2001	2018	Dublin – Holyhead	1 hour 49 minutes	8,403 GT	Operating a seasonal service. Carrying up to 820 passengers and 220 cars.	Cyprus
W.B. Yeats	2018	2019	Dublin - Cherbourg		50,400 GT	Carrying up to 1,800 passengers, with 440 cabins; 300-car deck and 165 freight vehicles (or additional cars)	Cyprus

Former ships

Ship	Years in service	Gross Register Tonnage	Status as of 2019
Saint Patrick	1972–1982	7,819 GT [9]	In 1982 renamed the St. Colum 1 and transferred to Belfast Car Ferries.[10] Scrapped as EXPRESS P at Alang, India in August 2005
Saint Killian Saint Killian II	1978–1981 1982–1997	7,125 GRT 10,256 GT	Scrapped in Alang, India in 2007
Saint Patrick II	1982–1997	7,984 GT	Since 2002 sailing as C.T.M.A. Vacancier for Coopérative de transport maritime et aérien
Thomas Wehr	1992	7,628 GT
Pride of Bilbao	did not operate for Irish Ferries	37,799 GT	Chartered to P&O Ferries. Sold to St. Peter Line in 2014.
Isle of Innisfree	1995-2002	22,365 GT	From 2002 chartered out as Pride of Cherbourg, Stena Challenger, Challenger and Kaitaki. Sold to Interislander in 2017.
Isle of Inishmore Isle of Inishturk	1995–1996 1996–1997	6,807 GRT 9,700 GT	Since 1997 sailing as Madeleine for Coopérative de transport maritime et aérien.
Normandy	1998–2007	17,043 GT	sold to Equinox Offshore Accommodation and chartered to the Morocco-based FerriMaroc in 2008. Scrapped at Alang, 2012.
Jonathan Swift	1999–2018	5,989 GT	sold to Balearia Eurolineas Maritimas, Denia, Spain and renamed Cecilia Payne
Oscar Wilde	2007-2019	31,914 GT	Sold to MSC and reflagged to Cyprus

References

1. Smith, P.C. (2012). Offshore Ferry Services of England and Scotland: A Useful Guide to the Shipping Lines and Routes. Pen & Sword Books Limited. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-84884-665-4. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
2. "Irish Ferries". Irish Ferries Enthusiasts Group. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
3. O'Brien, Ciara (1 June 2016). "Irish Continental Group to spend €144m building cruise ferry". Irish Times. Dublin. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
4. Ó Conghaile, Pól. "Irish Ferries cancels all summer sailings on new WB Yeats ferry". Irish Independent. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
5. ‘Irish Ferries – An Ambitious Voyage’ by Miles Cowsill and Justin Merrigan
6. "Flying the flag of greed". The Irish Times. 29 September 2005. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
7. "Irish Ferries flies flag of convenience". Sinn Fein. Sinn Fein. 15 July 2005. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
8. "Irish Ferries dispute finally resolved after bitter stand-off". EurWORK. 20 December 2005. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
9. "EXPRESS P - 7302885 - RO-RO/PASSENGER SHIP - Maritime-Connector.com". maritime-connector.com. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 March 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

Bibliography

• Cowsill, Miles; Merrigan, Justin (2013). Irish Ferries: An Ambitious Voyage. Ramsey, Isle of Man: Ferry Publications. ISBN 9781906608606.

External links

• Irish Continental Group (corporate)
• Irish Ferries (consumer)
• (Irish ferries enthusiasts site)