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Not sure if you were referring to the MS Julia vessel that last operated commercial passenger services to/from Cork and Swansea in South Wales between 2010/2011.

No service ran after 2011 which resulted in the end of Cork's passenger ferry links with Wales.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swansea_Cork_ferry

Close, there was around that time, an issue around parties wanting to re-establish redundant ferry routes with questionable tonnage., there are even posts on this forum if you go back far enough.

This all sounds very familiar, 2011?

Ulysses has left drydock in Belfast, hopefully everything will work properly on the trip to Dublin allowing the vessel to return to service.

Been out of action for nearly a month.

Just passed Bangor on its way to Dublin.

Length of journey times are only an issue if you use a vessel fitted with the cheap engines used on the Irish Sea, there are ferries out there the size of Isle of Innishmore and Stena Superfast that can do Cork - Bristol in 7 hours or Cork - Pembroke in 4 hours.

Eh?  This makes no sense.  Cheap engines? 

For the record Stena Superfast X could be capable of 28+ knots if Stena wanted her to.  The reason she isn't is fuel burn which increases at a faster rate the faster you go, as with any vessel.  The speed of a vessel at a given power output is dictated by many factors, especially hydrodynamics.  To use a modern design as an example, E-Flexer is designed to be able to travel at 18 knots on a single engine using a single screw.  It takes 2 engines and two screws to attain 24 knots (with the resulting increase in fuel burn).  More fuel burned equals higher ticket prices.  Even Visentini's have been known to attain 26 knots, but again theres a big fuel burn penalty.

Yes, apologies, I was tired when I wrote that and the point I was trying to make was about cheaper to run engines, and the example was intended to be Stena Adventurer and not any of the Stena Superfasts (which as you say are capable of service speeds of 28 knots+), while the Superfasts are known to be thirsty when operating at higher speeds, ironically they are in the category I was talking about with conventional hulled ferries operating at around 30 knots, while the economics of these higher speed vessels is questionable when competing against slower vessels on short routes (passengers want more speed but are generally reluctant to pay more for it) I have seen some figures where playing with the fuel blend used can significantly lower costs while staying inside emissions regulations, on some vessels engine components and fuel injection systems may need to be changed, if you are a large corporate then this would be no problem, if you are a small operator looking to lease, you might have a job of work convincing the ship owner to make the modifications.
Again apologies for the confusion.

Length of journey times are only an issue if you use a vessel fitted with the cheap engines used on the Irish Sea, there are ferries out there the size of Isle of Innishmore and Stena Superfast that can do Cork - Bristol in 7 hours or Cork - Pembroke in 4 hours.

Great news on E-Flexer 7 & 8, would think there will be more of these ordered.

7&8 could replace Spirit/ Vision / Baltica and (Nordica which is returning soon) on Poland route.

Given the success of the still untested vessels so far, could we see double figures.

Quite possible, Stena have an option on a further 4, (E-Flexer 9-12) and are currently deciding weather to exercise that option, I had a feeling 7&8 would be ordered, but even I am surprised that the class may now run to 12, that said 7&8 will be different, 1-6 are 215M long and have 3100 lanemeters, 7&8 however will be 240M long and have 3600 lanemeters.

Not a fleet movement as such but involves the new Ireland to Spain route

SPAIN SAILING Gardai and Spanish cops launch crackdown on new ferry route into Ireland being targeted by people traffickers

Extra gardai are being assigned to check vehicles and passports of those arriving in Cork on the Brittany Ferries from Santander

EXCLUSIVE
By Owen Conlon and Ann Mooney
1st July 2018, 8:15 am
GARDAI and Spanish cops have launched a crackdown after learning a new ferry route into Ireland is being targeted by people traffickers.

Extra gardai are being assigned to check vehicles and passports of those arriving in Cork on the Brittany Ferries from Santander.

Meanwhile, officers from the Policia Nacional's Illegal Immigration Response Brigade (BRIC) are performing similar inspections before departures from the northern Spanish port.

It comes after intelligence indicated the ferry was being viewed as a potential weak link by smugglers of Albanian migrants seeking a back door into the UK through Ireland.

BRIC said it believed an upsurge in trafficker activity at Santander had arrived following the opening of the ferry link to Ireland in early May.

Two Romanian nationals were arrested at the port driving a camper van with nine Albanians wedged into the luggage compartment in recent weeks.

Three other Albanians were also intercepted on a bus trying to pass controls, while two more were found attempting to stow away in the trailer of a Cork-bound lorry.

A senior source in Cork confirmed that gardai and BRIC are in regular contact, adding: "We are currently working with the Spanish authorities and our colleagues in Spain in relation to the illegal immigration issue.

"We have put on additional resources at the port where we are now dealing with four ferry arrivals a week, two from Spain and two from France, a big increase on the previous once a week sailings."

Last February, gardai arrested six Albanian men who sneaked aboard an Ireland-bound ship in Bilbao when the vessel docked in Fenit, Co Kerry.
https://www.thesun.ie/news/2786646/crackdown-people-traffickers-ferry-ireland/

Funny enough I noticed an increased presence of various state agencies, and the deployment of canine units and mobile scanners for about 10 days in the run up to that story being printed, I suppose these elements will always try it on with a new route to test its limits.

if he numbers stack up there may be a sniff of competition. However these are summer peak passenger numbers and biscay is not the nicest place to be in middle of winter.

Indeed, it will be interesting to see what the winter offering is, while indications and projections are very good, as this route is totally new it is impossible to say how it will behave until the full two years of operation are complete.
As for competition, well one can not help but notice WB Yates technical specification makes her well suited for Bay of Biscay operation, while it would be great to see Irish Ferries back in Cork, I wont be holding my breath lol

Bretagne has less than 800 lane metres and capacity for around 2000 passengers with most of them in berths.  I don't know what her minimum crewing level is but IIRC she normally operates with over 100!  I can't see how such a vessel could even be considered as suitable for an off-peak freight oriented service given her running costs!  She is used less intensively for a reason.

Passenger demand has exceeded expectation on the Cork- Santander route by a considerable margin, it turns out that 500 passenger spaces is less than half of what is required during the peak, and thats on an initial offering targeted at freight on an economy model, demand does appear to be enough to run a passenger vessel alongside the freight vessel, Bretagne is suitable to relieve the passenger pressure on the route but would in no way be able to replace the Connemara, as you said it simply does not have the lane meters for that, I suspect that when the charter of Connemara is up what Brittany ferries will be looking for is a RoPax with between 2500-3000 lane meters and passenger space between 1000-1500 and a matching or near matching number of cabin berths running 3 times weekly with something else providing the second (and possibly third) weekly sailing to Roscoff alongside Pont Aven. Baie de Seine is worth watching, it is due to be replaced by an E-Flexer around the time Connemara's charter expires, its possible Baie de Seine's charter might be extended depending on whats available in the charter market at the time.

Brittany Ferries are not noted for their freight capacity.

Traditionally no, but in recent years they have expanded into that market, Brittany Ferries Economie is primarily targeted at freight. They now have a second freight route to Spain from Cork with Cork - Roscoff connecting with their new Roscoff - Bilbao service.

While the project being cancelled looks bad, a jump in costs from £6 million to £20 million is significant and any management worth its salt would have to look again at a project running that much over cost.
I cant see Stena closing Fishguard only just having committed to transferring Stena Superfast X to the route when E-Flexer 1 comes onstream next year, more likely given the cost over run which most likely resulted from unexpected problems arising from the current plan, that Stena are going back to the drawing board with regards upgrading Fishguard, while its not impossible, I could not see Irish Ferries and Stena Line sharing Pembroke Dock.

Indeed the year round service is a new element which is squarely aimed at the freight market, the expectation for the winter is that Pont Aven will head off onto its winter schedule and Connemara will operate its current timetable through the winter, (depending on demand, the Santander route could fall to once weekly for the winter if demand is weak), Brittany ferries fleet usually has a reshuffle around the end of October for refits and lay ups ect, if demand exists to maintain twice weekly on Roscoff and a suitable ship has schedule availability (like Bretagne) you might see something other than Pont Aven appear, but of course this is all speculation until wee see what Brittany Ferries decides after the peak season is over.

Just in case anyone missed it on the timetable, MV Bretagne will operate the Cork Roscoff service on November 02 (Roscoff)and 03 (Cork) this year, given that the winter timetable is yet to be announced it may or may not be Bretagne's only appearance in Cork this year.

The enhanced Brittany Ferries service from Cork - Roscoff is having an impact with loads well ahead of target, the Cork - Santander service has also exceeded expectations but keep in mind expectations of a new route in its second month of operation would not be overly high, from what I have seen so far most of the passenger traffic is Irish and the bulk of the HGV's are Spanish (with a surprising number of UK registered units using it also).
Talking to people involved in the operation there is strong speculation that another Brittany Ferries vessel will be added to the Cork operation next year (bringing it to a 3 ship operation), Brittany Ferries is planning to rebrand its Economie services to differentiate them from their premium product (cruise ferries), if another ship does arrive in Cork it is not yet known if it will be another Economie vessel or a cascade from Brittany Ferries own fleet.
All that said it is still early days and the winter timetables for Cork - Roscoff and Cork - Santander have yet to be published, and those will be a good indication of how well the service is deemed to be performing.

Brittany Ferries are to charter a second E-Flexer from Stena, so thats No.s 3 & 6 for Brittany Ferries.