Type | Limited |
---|---|
Founded | 1987 |
Defunct | 2006 |
Fate | Parent company dissolved |
Headquarters | Cork, Ireland |
Area served | Celtic Sea |
Key people | Thomas Hunter-McGowan, MD |
Services | Passenger transportation Freight transportation |
Owner | 1992-1999: Strintzis 1999-2006: Briar Star Ltd 2006-date Thomas Hunter Mc Gowan |
Website | www.swanseacorkferries.com |
Swansea Cork Ferries was a company that operated a RoRo service between Swansea and Cork (Ringaskiddy) from 1987 till 2006. The company no longer offers a ferry service but provides consultancy services. Its former owners Strintzis Lines are now part of the Attica Group, and Briarstar Ltd was dissolved in 2012. The company remains in the ownership of Thomas Hunter Mc Gowan.
A Swansea–Cork ferry service was restarted by Fastnet Line in March 2010, but services were suspended in November 2011 due to the economic situation. [1]
Swansea Cork Ferries operated four ships during its 20 years in operation. [3]
Ship | Built | In service | Tonnage | Flag | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Celtic Pride | 1972 | 1987-1989 1991 & 1992 | 7,800 GRT | Poland | Scrapped 2004 |
Ionian Sun | 1969 | 1990 | 4,849 GRT | Greece | Scrapped 2004 |
City of Cork | 1973 | 2001 | 7,210 GRT | Portugal | Currently operated in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence for CTMA |
Superferry | 1972 | 1993-2000 2002-2006 | 7,454 GRT | Greece | Scrapped 2021 |
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.
Ringaskiddy is a village in County Cork, Ireland. It is located on the western side of Cork Harbour, south of Cobh, and is 15 kilometres (9 mi) from Cork city, to which it is connected by the N28 road. The village is a port with passenger ferry, with two bi-weekly sailings to Roscoff in France. A ferry service to Swansea in Wales closed in 2012.
P&O is a British shipping and logistics company dating from the early 19th century. Formerly a public company, it was sold to DP World in March 2006 for £3.9 billion. DP World currently operate several P&O branded businesses, P&O Ferries, Istithmar P&O Estates, and P&O Maritime Logistics. It also operates P&O Heritage, which is the official historic archive and collection of P&O.
Several ships have been named Innisfallen, the name being derived from the island of Innisfallen in County Kerry and often given to vessels serving the southerly coasts of Ireland. Five served on the Irish Sea route between Cork and Fishguard, from 1896 onwards: two of these were war casualties whilst the remainder have been either scrapped or renamed and sold to new owners.
DFDS is a Danish international shipping and logistics company. The company's name is an abbreviation of Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab. DFDS was founded in 1866, when C.F. Tietgen merged the three biggest Danish steamship companies of that day.
The West Wales lines are a group of railway lines from Swansea through Carmarthenshire to Pembrokeshire, West Wales. The main part runs from Swansea to Carmarthen and Whitland, where it becomes three branches to Fishguard, Milford Haven and Pembroke Dock.
P&O Ferries is a British shipping company that operates ferries from United Kingdom to Ireland, and to Continental Europe. The company was created in 2002 through mergers and acquisitions within P&O. It has been owned by Dubai-based DP World since 2019.
Moby Zazà is a ferry operated by Moby Lines between Nice and Bastia. Until 2015 she was MS Wind Perfection, an accommodation ship owned and operated by C-bed. She was built in 1982 as MS Olau Britannia by Weser Seebeckswerft in Bremerhaven for Olau Line, who used her on Sheerness—Vlissingen service. In 1990 she was sold to Fred. Olsen Lines and renamed MS Bayard for services between Norway and Denmark. In 1991 Fred. Olsen Lines was sold to Color Line and the Bayard passed under their ownership under the name MS Christian IV. In 2008, she was sold to Stella Lines and renamed MS Julia for service between Helsinki and St. Petersburg. This was a failure and after just two months the Julia was laid up. In 2009, she was sold to Fastnet Line and entered service on their Swansea—Cork route in 2010, retaining her earlier name.
Seatruck Ferries is a UK-based freight-only ferry company which commenced services in 1996. It is a subsidiary of CLdN. It operates out of four ports on the Irish Sea, including Heysham and Liverpool.
The MV Ippotis was a roll-on/roll-off ferry owned and operated by Eptanisos Maritime on the Ibiza–Barcelona route.
The British and Irish Steam Packet Company Limited was a steam packet and passenger ferry company operating between ports in Ireland and in Great Britain between 1836 and 1992. It was latterly popularly called the B&I, and branded as B&I Line.
The MS C.T.M.A. Vacancier is a car/passenger ferry operated by Coopérative de Transport Maritime et Aérien (CTMA) on their Montreal–Cap-aux-Meules service. She was built in 1973 by the J.J. Sietas Schiffswerft in Hamburg, West Germany as Aurella for SF Line for use on Viking Line traffic. Between 1982 and 1998 she sailed as Saint Patrick II, between 1998 and 2000 as Egnatia II, in 2000 as Ville de Séte and between 2001 and 2002 as City of Cork, before being sold to her current owners.
The Swansea Cork ferry was a 10-hour ferry crossing that linked Swansea in Wales with the Port of Cork in Ireland. The ferry route was last operated by Fastnet Line from 2010 to 2012, although no commercial passenger sailings took place after 2011. Between 1987 and 2006 the service was operated by Swansea Cork Car Ferries Ltd. Prior to the revival of the Cork–Swansea route by Swansea Cork Car Ferries Ltd. the former Irish semi-state owned ferry company, British & Irish Steam Packet Company which became known simply as the B+I Line which had operated the route from 1969 until 1979. In 1979 the B+I Line decided to switch the Cork–Swansea service over to a Cork–Pembroke Dock service instead. Prior to B+I Line's Cork Swansea ferry, they had a previous ferry service that sailed from Cork to Fishguard in Wales. Over the years numerous ships had different departure points from Cork. Originally, the ferry came right up into Cork city centre and would have docked across from Penrose House at Penrose Quay and in the 1970s ferries departed Cork from a new Ferry Terminal based down stream at Tivoli Docks alongside a large container terminal. From around the early 1980s onwards ferries would later depart from yet another new passenger car Ferry Terminal based at Ringaskiddy Deepwater Berth in the lower part of Cork Harbour.
Fastnet Line operated a ferry service carrying cars, freight and passengers between Ringaskiddy, Cork, Ireland and Swansea, Wales on MS Julia.
The Port of Cork is the main port serving the South of Ireland, County Cork and Cork City. It is one of the three "Ports of National Significance " as designated by National Ports Policy.
Blue Star Maritime S.A., operating under the brand name Blue Star Ferries, is a Greece-based company founded in 1965 which provides ferry services between the Greek mainland and the Aegean Islands.
M/V Kefallinia was a Greek ro-ro ferry. It was the first passenger ferry for Strintzis Lines. It was built in 1965 at the Th. Zervas & Sons shipyard in Perama, Greece. It could hold up a total of 600 passengers and 70 vehicles. It had Two 8-cyl, Werkspoor diesel engines with combined power of 2942 kW and could reach speeds up to 15 knots.
MV Connemara is a RORO passenger and freight ferry currently sailing across the Cook Strait in New Zealand on StraitNZ's Bluebridge service, after being purchased from Stena RoRo. From 2007 to 2010, she was operated by Balearia as Borja, then between 2010 and 2011 as Baltic Amber for AVE Lines and then DFDS Seaways, before subsequently spending four years on charter to LD Lines. She spent the majority of autumn 2014 and 2015 on charter to Inter Shipping sailing from Algeciras, Spain, when she was then chartered by ANEK Lines, being replaced by Nova Star Cruises's Nova Star. The ship was renamed Asterion which comes from Greek Mythology of Asterion, the King of Crete.
Blue Star 1 is a Greek ferry, which is owned by Blue Star Ferries and currently being chartered by Irish Ferries. She is a motor Ro-Ro/Passenger ferryboat, built in 2000 by Van der Giessen de Noord shipward in Krimpen aan den IJssel, Netherlands. She is a sistership to Blue Star 2. She holds a total of 1600 passengers and 640 vehicles and has 430 beds in 161 cabins for passengers. She has four MAN B&W 8L58 / 64 diesel engines, with combined power of 44,480 kW and reaches speeds of up to 27 knots.
MV Leinster was launched in 1968 and operated initially for the British and Irish Steam Packet Company. The c. 5,000-ton ship as built had capacity for 1,200 passengers and 220 cars. The ship has also been known under several other names including Innisfallen, Chams and Merdif.