Two New ships for ferry route

By Robin Morton
28 February 2005

The ferry service between Belfast and Birkenhead is set to benefit from the arrival of two new ships later this year. Norse Merchant Ferries, which operates the service, said it had agreed to charter two new vessels.

The 26,500 ton roll-on roll-off freight and passenger ships are currently under construction at the Vissentini shipyard near Venice in Italy. They are due for delivery in July and December and will take over from the existing ships, Lagan Viking and Mersey Viking.

Norse Merchant managing director Phil Shepherd said the new ships would offer increased capacity on the twice-daily service. He said: "The new ships will offer berths for 500 passengers in en-suite cabins, meaning that we are doubling our passenger capacity.

"With a service speed of 23 knots they will greatly improve scheduling and reliability on the route."

Norse Merchant group chief executive Derek Sloan said the three-year charter of the new ships was just the first step in re-launching Norse Merchant as a significant force on the Irish Sea. He said: "This signifies the start of a five-year growth plan which involves investment in vessels, terminals and systems. "We are talking to a number of shipyards about constructing new purpose-built vessels for the Belfast-Birkenhead service, with expected delivery in 2007.

"We wanted to upgrade our fleet before them and these two new Vissentini vessels will provide us with a perfect interim solution."