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DFDS have ordered two ro/ro ferries from Flensbruger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft yard in Germany , no word on spec yet , but a further two ro/ro's will be ordered later this year.

Very interesting if unwelcome news.
http://www.independent.ie/regionals/goreyguardian/news/fears-for-future-of-oscar-wilde-ferry-out-of-rosslare-port-34797948.html

I don't think Oscar Wilde is going anywhere for a while , this new build is to take over Epsilon's slot , hard to say if Epsilon will still be around by mid 2018 , something else could yet be chartered to fill any gap between handing back Epsilon and the arrival of the new ship .
Oscar Wilde is in trouble if the second ship is built , as that would be a new tonnage for the Rosslare - France service.

Well done ICG , not before time I might add ,I must say I am impressed , and my expectations of this order were not low , this is a very wise move by ICG as the design of this new ship means it could easily operate any of the Irish Ferries routes and given the passenger accommodation could also be used on a route to Spain in the future if they ever decide to operate a route to there.
This news was expected for some time so I am delighted to see the order being placed at last , I am hopeful they will exercise the option of a second vessel , given the flexibility of this design it could easily replace any of the existing fleet.

Anyone know if there is any update on IoI's missing crewman?
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-36395328

Stena Flavia has gained full Stena Line branding during its latest repaint.

It seems there may be a potential building spree on the way with European ferry operators , below is an report from the Shippax conference ;

Major European ferry owners aim to build new ships
Thu 14 Apr 2016 by Rebecca Moore

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Major European ferry owners aim to build new ships
Rerry operators aiming to swell fleets with newbuilds, it was revealed at Ferry Shipping Conference on Silja Symphony
European ferry operators are looking to build new vessels – but there were warnings about not flooding the market with newbuilds as older tonnage comes back on the scene, it was revealed at the Ferry Shipping Conference on board Silja Symphony.

At the panel session of major European ferry operators at the conference – organised by Shippax – Stena Line Group chief operating officer Niclas Martensson spoke about the recent announcement that Stena has signed a contract for four new 'gas-ready' ropax ferries, with an option for another four at AVIC Shipyard in China.

He said: "It was obvious that we needed more tonnage – this was a combination between Stena Line and Stena Roro where we see a need for tonnage and also to meet new rules and regulations and market demand when it comes to efficiencies... we are in a situation where it is the right time."

While Attica Group chief executive Spiros Paschalis said: "We have been looking for newbuildings for the last one and a half years... as we are looking to replace a couple of old vessels in the fleet."

But he warned: "I also think that the market should not be flooded with newbuildings – as I'm sure old tonnage will not be out of the market – so that we come to a situation of oversupply of vessels, which we should avoid."

Grimaldi Group commercial manager Guido Grimaldi also emphasised the challenges older tonnage in the market was creating, saying that this was not just a problem in the Mediterranean, but also in the Baltic. "The problem we have is that there is a lot of old tonnage in the Baltic. We see lot of lines with vessels 40 years old and this is not helping the market. Before building new vessels, we have to see what the situation is with tonnage."

Viking Line chief executive Jan Hanses also laid out plans for adding to the fleet through newbuilds, explaining that this need was driven by a very active competitor who had been ordering newbuilds at an active pace over the last 10 years. Also, what the ferry operator had experienced with its last newbuilding, the LNG-duel fueled Viking Grace, had been very encouraging.

He added: "We tend to be very conservative when it comes to the balance sheet and we need to build in an orderly way. For this reason we also try to maintain a very good standard with our present fleet."

Not previously mentioned here , the vessel that inaugurated the Cork - Roscoff service MV Armorique (not to be confused with the current Armorique) while operating as Mustikha Kencana II was destroyed by fire and sank while operating the Surabaya - Makassar route in 2011 , shame as it was a beautiful classic car ferry , but I suppose would have hit the beech by now anyway had it not been lost at sea.

I notice that it is an unusual fastcraft in that it has bow and stern vehicle ramps/doors and not just a stern loader like the majority of fastcraft.

The Westpac Express is surprisingly similar to the Swift , either way its good to see the ICG fleet expanding (I have a vested interest as I am midway through an honors level transport science degree and might be knocking on their door for a job in the not too distant future ;D)

[co-op was set up to but a ship]

George, are you familiar with what happened with Swansea - Cork? The movement to create Fastnet Line (which this site was involved in), was incredible, a co-op was set up to but a ship, some of us went beyond being just enthusiasts, to investors in a ferry, it ultimately failed for a string of reasons, but the point of having a solid business case before lobbying is critical to anyone listening to you.

Ah Fastnet Line , we had such high hopes , and got burned quite badly , establishing a new ferry company is astonishingly complicated and took many seasoned business people involved with Fastnet Line by surprise , even with a solid business plan and good cashflow forecasting and passenger throughput projections things can still go horribly wrong , and even expensive consultancy companies can get it wrong (like the company that was paid a lot of money to identify a suitable ship and selected the MV Julia as the most suitable ship of the 5 candidates even though it clearly was not ) even if you can make a solid business case to re-open a closed route (and 80,000-90,000 is small numbers) you will still have to contend with competing companies on other routes which may have been the reason the selected route may have been closed in the first place , in the case of Fastnet Line , both Irish Ferries and Stena Line spent an obscene amount of money trying to claw back the meager 5% of traffic Fastnet Line had taken from them.
In hindsight starting a new company only works if you have deep pockets and a commercial angle good enough to scare off larger predatory companies , the best way to get a route re-opened is to find a way to incentivize an established operator to take it on.

I could see one of the Gotland pair being used on Rosslare - Pembroke with Isle of Innishmore moving north to Dublin , not sure how the other one would fit as a replacement for Oscar Wilde though.

One rumour before Christmas was that swift had been sold and IF had sourced a large ferry capable of travelling to Holyhead in 2 hours 30 minutes.

After that there was no further mention of it.

That ship is widely believed to be the MV Gotland , they supposedly have first refusal on MV Visby also , none of this is confirmed but seems to be turning up a lot on several channels now.

here is what is what the ships will look like:

HHhmmmmm , if Stena Hollandica and Stena Superfast produced a lovechild I suspect it would look like this new design lol

I imagine Norman Atlantic wont be far behind.