TALKS HAVE taken place in Cork aimed at re-establishing a ferry link with Swansea more than a year after the service was cancelled.
It has been estimated that the service contributed more than €30 million a year in tourism revenue to the Cork and Kerry region.
Port of Cork officials met management from Associated British Ports, which operates the Port of Swansea, yesterday afternoon.
Port of Cork marketing manager Capt Michael McCarthy said the discussions were a sign of considerable progress.
"We are very satisfied that the business case stacks up," Capt McCarthy said. "We have had one of the operators on the Irish Sea look at the business case. We tried to attract them to the route. They have not given us any decision as of yet, but they are happy that the route is commercially viable."
He believed the Port of Swansea was suffering as much as Cork and Kerry arising out of the cancellation of the service. He said he had received feedback from members of the Welsh Assembly and Tourism Wales and said all the relevant groups were hoping for the establishment of the route between Swansea and Cork.
A study by the department of economics at University College Cork found that the service has carried more than three million passengers since it was established in 1987.
Swansea Cork Ferries announced in January 2007 that it was terminating its service for 12 months because it could not find a suitable ferry to replace the 35-year-old MV Superferry, which it sold to a Greek line because of its age and limited freight capacity. The service has not operated since. Work is going on behind the scenes to find a secondhand vessel which could ply the route.
Cork County Council, Cork City Council and Kerry County Council have set up a working group to galvanise political support for the reintroduction of the service.
