WORLD’S BIGGEST FREIGHT FERRY
Now building for Holyhead-Dublin route:
IRISH Ferries has signed a deal with a shipbuilder to construct this huge cruise ferry to sail the route between Holyhead and Dublin.
The vessel to be built by German company Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesselschaft & Co at a contract price of €165.2m will be the world’s largest cruise ferry in terms of vehicle capacity.
It will accommodate 1,800 passengers and crew, with capacity for 5,610 freight lane metres, which provides the capability to carry 330 lorries per sailing.
Overall, it will effectively be a 50% increase in freight capacity compared to the MV Ulysses, the ship it is expected to replace on the Irish Sea route.
The cruise ferry is scheduled for delivery in mid 2020 and is being built specifically for Irish Ferries’ Holyhead-Dublin service.
The MV Ulysses is expected to replace the currently chartered vessel, MV Epsilon, which sails between Dublin and Holyhead and also Cherbourg in France.
This will allow for the deployment of the W.B. Yeats (arriving mid 2018) full-time on the direct Ireland-France route alongside the MV Oscar Wilde. Until then, the W.B. Yeats will run services between Dublin and Holyhead as well as France.
Eamonn Rothwell, chief executive officer of Irish Continental Group, said: “This investment underpins the confidence the group has in the markets in which we operate.
“Alongside the recent investment in the MV W.B. Yeats, it brings our total investment to €315m for these two vessels designed for our operations on the Irish Sea.
“This infrastructural investment enhances ‘the bridge’ to the UK and continental Europe that is a vital part of the continued success of Ireland’s open economy.”