Irish Ferries' giant new cruise ferry, Ulysses, the world's largest car ferry, has successfully completed its first year of operations on the Dublin - Holyhead route.
Despite having to face heavy storms and high seas during the early part of this year - when other vessels were confined to port - Ulysses achieved an unblemished record of reliability with 100 per cent of sailings completed without interruption.
Since her maiden voyage from Dublin to Holyhead on March 25th last year, Ulysses has maintained a non-stop schedule of two return sailings daily, seven-days-a-week. In that time, she has completed a total of 1,395 sailings covering about 76,725 nautical miles.
Built in Finland at a cost of €100 million, the giant 50,000-ton Ulysses has almost three miles of vehicle lane parking space - room enough to carry 1,300 cars or 260 articulated truck and trailer units per sailing.
With capacity for 2,000 passengers and crew, she has brought new levels of interior spaciousness and "cruise liner" comfort to travel between Ireland and Britain.