New Irish Sea ferry services to meet increased demand

Two new freight ferry services are being introduced on the Irish Sea route to meet increased demand between Dublin and Britain.

A Wexford fishing family has initiated a new daily service between Dublin and Liverpool and plans to add a second ship to the run later this summer.

Stena Line also intends to increase its service on the Dublin to Holyhead route in mid summer with the introduction of a second ship, Stena Seatrader. The company already has a twice-daily sailing service on the route from Dublin port.

Celtic Link Ferries Ltd was established by the six O'Flaherty brothers from Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford, who own a fleet of fishing vessels and a processing factory, Saltees Fish Ltd. They made their first foray into sea transport some 15 months ago when they bought a former P&O roll-on/roll-off ferry - in a deal estimated at €10 million - to secure the future of their own annual fish export trade to France and Spain.

Denis O'Flaherty said that a 14,000-tonne vessel, Celtic Star, had been charted from a Greek company to serve the new Dublin-Liverpool route and advance negotiations were taking place to purchase a vessel.

Mr O'Flaherty confirmed that certain family members had been involved in recent tax settlements with the Revenue Commissioners amounting to €1.9 million relating to disputed returns in the fishing business, but all companies were now fully tax compliant. The ferry company is an entirely separate operation, he said.

Dublin Port Company chief executive Enda Connellan said the port was delighted to be able to facilitate the initiatives. However, he warned that national and local government must now make approval of additional capacity at the port a "priority", as it would reach operational unitised capacity next year.