Celtic Link new vessle

[Kieran]

Celtic Link press release:

NEW VESSEL AND NEW ROUTE
CELTIC LINK FERRIES (IRELAND) LIMITED ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE ACQUISITION OF A NEW VESSEL AND THE OPENING OF A NEW SERVICE BETWEEN CHERBOURG AND PORTSMOUTH. The new service will commence in october 2009. The Vessel will have a capacity of 130 trucks or 500 cars, and will be capable of carrying 1000 passengers. ALL PASSENGERS AND FREIGHT CUSTOMERS WILL BE ABLE TO TRAVEL 365 DAYS A YEAR ON THE NEW ROUTE!!! The Vessel will be operating under British Flag and her crew will be composed of British seafarers. The Vessel will be used on the CHERBOURG to PORTSMOUTH route during the week and will replace Celtic Link's MV DIPLOMAT on the current week-end sailing to ROSSLARE. The ship will be used from CHERBOURG to ROSSLARE on Fridays and from ROSSLARE to CHERBOURG on Saturdays . With a service speed of 24 knots, the crossing time between the Irish Port and the French Port will be 16 hours. The MV DIPLOMAT will maintain the Tuesdays and Thursdays sailings from Rosslare to Cherbourg and the Wednesdays and Sundays sailings from Cherbourg to Rosslare. The MV DIPLOMAT will be used on the CHERBOURG - PORTSMOUTH route during the week-end while the new Vessel is on the FRANCE to IRELAND route, giving Customers a guarantee of a daily departure from either CHERBOURG or PORTSMOUTH. For both passenger and freight Customers, CELTIC LINK FERRIES (IRELAND) LIMITED will be the cheapest of all operators on the Western Channel and Irish Continental routes. www.celticlinkferries.com

No word on that the ship is yet.

[Kieran]

CELTIC LINK FERRIES (IRELAND) NEW ROUTE ANNOUNCEMENT

SATURDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER 2009. AN AGREEMENT HAS BEEN REACHED TODAY BETWEEN CELTIC LINK FERRIES AND FRENCH COMPANY LD LINES FOR THE VESSEL "NORMAN VOYAGER". LD LINES'VESSEL NORMAN VOYAGER WILL NOW BE OPERATING UNDER CHARTER TO CELTIC LINK FERRIES FROM 29TH SEPTEMBER 2009. NORMAN VOYAGER HAS CAPACITY OF UP TO 800 PASSENGERS, 200 CARS AND UP TO 120 FREIGHT VEHICLES. ON BOARD FACILITIES INCLUDE 110 CABINS, BAR, RESTAURANT, LOUNGES AND SHOP; SHE HAS PREVIOUSLY OPERATED ON LD LINES PORTSMOUTH - LE HAVRE AND ROSSLARE - LE HAVRE ROUTES SINCE BEING INTRODUCED IN NOVEMBER 2008. THE VESSEL WILL BE LAUNCHED ON THE CHERBOURG - PORTSMOUTH ROUTE ON 29TH SEPTEMBER 2009 SAILING FROM CHERBOURG AT 23.30 HRS. THE VESSEL WILL START ITS WEEK-END SAILINGS TO ROSSLARE ON FRIDAY 2ND OCTOBER 2009 AS PER CELTIC LINK FERRIES PUBLISHED TIMETABLE.

[Stena_Rosslare]

Not good news for Rosslare Europort as this will see the end of the new LD Lines Cherbourg link on top of the news from Cobelfret that the Rotterdam - Rosslare ro-ro service will switch to Dublin in October.

[Collision-course]

Verry bad news for Rosslare as it is expected that the Stena Lynx will not be back next year , and with Fastnet Line about to reclaim the 15% of Rosslare - UK traffic that Cork lost with the end of Swansea Cork Ferries , and with the port's owners (CIE) facing a privatisation battle next year it could be tough times ahead for Rosslare.