THE TOURISM group behind a new car ferry service linking Cork and Swansea have expressed confidence about the future of the service.
The ship arrived in Cork on its first voyage yesterday from the Welsh port and departed again last night on its first scheduled sailing.
West Cork Tourism Co-op chief executive Conor Buckley said its subsidiary, Fastnet Line, had already achieved 16 per cent of its target revenue in bookings for the year for the MV Julia.
That had been accomplished with “practically no marketing”, he said. “We’re confident that there will be strong demand for our service which we hope will open up Cork and Kerry again to British visitors.”
The service is the first on the route since 2006 when Swansea Cork Ferries terminated its service. West Cork Tourism began its campaign at the beginning of 2009 to raise funds to get a service back on the route and a co-op was formed with some 300 members who each contributed €10,000 towards purchasing a ship.
Finnish bank Aktia Bank and its finance company, Atkia Yritysrahoitus Oy supported the acquisition of the 28-year-old MV Julia for €7.8 million through the provision of a multimillion euro mortgage to the Fastnet Line.
Cork City Council, Cork County Council and Kerry County Council also provided support as did the Port of Cork and ABP Ports in Swansea.
Fastnet chief executive Tom Barrett paid tribute to all those who assisted in the venture.
“With bookings topping the €1 million mark, people are obviously very aware of the savings in time and the road trip savings of 600 kilometres over alternative sea crossings, not to mention the direct access to the M4 corridor when they arrive in Swansea,” he said.