the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information . please remove or replace such wording and instead of making proclamations about a subject s importance use facts and attribution to demonstrate that importance . february 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message irish ferries ltd type division industry tourism & transportation predecessor b & i line ; irish continental line founded 1992 headquarters dublin ireland dublin ireland number of locations dublin port holyhead rosslare pembroke cherbourg & roscoff area served ireland united kingdom & france key people eamonn rothwell md services passenger transportation freight transportation ; parent irish continental group icg plc. divisions irish ferries ; eucon ; subsidiaries irish ferries freight ; irishferries.com ; dublin ferryport terminals ; belfast container terminal website www.irishferries.com ; www.icg.ie irish ferries route map ulysses hsc jonathan swift oscar wilde isle of inishmore irish ferries is a division of irish continental group icg plc an irish maritime group . the company operates passenger and freight routes between ireland the united kingdom and continental europe particularly dublin port holyhead ; rosslare europort to pembroke and roscoff cherbourg in france . in 2014 irish ferries introduced a new weekly service from dublin port to cherbourg . the company s flagship ms ulysses is currently the largest ropax ferry operating on the irish sea and when launched 2001 was the world s largest car ferry in terms of car carrying capacity . other ships in the fleet include ms isle of inishmore ms oscar wilde and the fast ferry hsc jonathan swift aka dublin swift as she is currently promoted . the company also charters out a vessel mv kaitaki to interisland line and charters in a ro pax vessel ms epsilon . the company used to charter pride of bilbao but sold her to st. peter line in 2013 who renamed her ms spl princess anastasia 1986 . irish ferries is part 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 between ireland and the continent . contents 1 history 1.1 investment 2 awards 3 fleet 3.1 ships under charter to other companies 3.2 former ships 4 references 4.1 notes 4.2 bibliography 5 external links history edit irish continental line was formed in 1973 as a joint venture between irish shipping limited fearnley & eger and swedish company lion ferry . it originally operated on the rosslare le havre route with the 547 berth 210 car ferry saint patrick . 1 when irish shipping ltd. went into liquidation in 1984 irish continental line was sold off in a management buyout and emerged as irish continental group . in 1992 irish continental group 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 edit as part of its offer to buy b & i line management at irish continental group 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 . awards edit irish ferries has won awards from consumer travel trade and logistics industry groups . in 2001 the newly completed vessel ulysses was awarded the title most significant newbuild ferry by lloyds list cruise & ferry . 2 in 2014 at two separate award ceremonies the irish travel trade voted irish ferries best ferry company . fleet edit ship built entered service route crossing times gross tonnage notes ulysses 2001 2001 dublin port holyhead 3 hours 15 minutes 50 938 gt the largest ro pax ferry currently 2014 operating on the irish sea carrying up to 1 875 passengers and 1 342 cars . isle of inishmore 1997 1997 rosslare europort pembroke dock 4 hours 34 031 gt carrying up to 2 200 passengers and 855 cars . jonathan swift 1999 1999 dublin port holyhead 1 hour 49 minutes 5 989 gt carrying up to 800 passengers and 200 cars and with an average speed of 39 knots . oscar wilde 1987 2007 rosslare cherbourg roscoff 16 17 hours 31 914 gt carrying up to 1 458 passengers 580 cars and with 1 376 beds . epsilon 2011 2014 dublin port cherbourg dublin holyhead 19 hours 3 hrs 25 minutes 26 375 gt operating dublin holyhead mid week & dublin cherbourg week ends . ships under charter to other companies edit ship under charter to built purchased by irish ferries route tonnage1 notes kaitaki interisland line 1995 1995 picton wellington 22 365 gt sailed for irish ferries as isle of innisfree 1995 2001 1may be specified in gross tonnage gt or gross register tons grt . former ships edit this transport related list is incomplete ; you can help by expanding it . ship years in service gross register tonnage status as of 2008 saint patrick 1972 1982 7 819 grt 3 in 1982 renamed the st. colum 1 and transferred to belfast car ferries . 4 scrapped as express p at alang india in august 2005 saint killian saint killian ii 1978 1981 1982 1997 7 125 grt 10 256 grt scrapped in alang 2007 saint patrick ii 1982 1997 7 984 grt since 2002 sailing as ms c.t.m.a. vacancier for coop rative de transport maritime et a rien isle of inishmore isle of inishturk 1995 1996 1996 1997 6 807 grt since 1997 sailing as madeleine for coop rative de transport maritime et a rien . normandy 1998 2007 17 043 grt sold to equinox offshore accommodation and when chartered to the morocco based ferrimaroc . scrapped in alang 2012 pride of bilbao 1993 2010 2010 37 799 grt sailed under charter to p & o ferries . sold to st. peter line in 2014 . thomas wehr 1992 7 628 grt references edit notes edit irish ferries . irish ferries enthusiasts group . retrieved 2012 11 16 . irish ferries an ambitious voyage by miles cowsill and justin merrigan http maritime connector.com ship express p 7302885 http www.irish ferries enthusiasts.com irishferrieshsitory.php bibliography edit cowsill miles ; merrigan justin 2013 . irish ferries an ambitious voyage . ramsey isle of man ferry publications . isbn 9781906608606 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to irish ferries . irish ferries online tickets sales & reservations irish continental group corporate irish ferries consumer irish ferries enthusiasts site irish ferries you tube channel consumer v t e ferries of the irish sea current ships irish ferries ms epsilon ms isle of inishmore hsc jonathan swift ms oscar wilde ms ulysses seatruck ferries ms clipper pennant ms clipper point ms clipper ranger ms seatruck pace ms seatruck panorama p & o ferries ms european causeway ms european endeavour ms european highlander ms norbank ms norbay isle of man steam packet company ms arrow ms ben my chree hsc manannan stena line ms stena adventurer ms stena europe ms stena horizon ms stena lagan ms stena mersey ms stena superfast vii ms stena superfast viii ms stena superfast x ferry ports belfast harbour cairnryan harbour douglas dublin port heysham port port of holyhead port of liverpool rosslare europort retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title irish ferries & oldid 744336756 categories ferry companies of the republic of irelandferry companies of walescompanies based in dublin city 1973 establishments in irelandcompanies established in 1973hidden categories use dmy dates from july 2015use irish english from july 2015all wikipedia articles written in irish englisharticles with peacock terms from february 2015all articles with peacock termsincomplete transport listsvague or ambiguous time from december 2011commons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages cymraegdeutscheuskarafran aissvenska edit links this page was last modified on 14 october 2016 at 15 38 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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