P&O Irish Sea
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P&O Irish Sea (registered as P&O European Ferries (Irish Sea) Ltd[1]) is a constituent company of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O). This sector of P&O is registered as based in Dover, Kent. P&O also operate a number of routes in the English Channel and North Sea and trade under the name P&O Ferries
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[edit] History
P&O Irish Sea was formed in 1998 following the merger of the Cairnryan based services of P&O European Ferries (Felixstowe Ltd.) and Pandoro Ltd, who operated routes between England, Scotland and France to Ireland.
The following year (1999), the new P&O Irish Sea announced its intentions to purchase a purpose built Ro-Pax (roll-on, roll-off, vehicle/passenger) from Mitsubishi of Japan for the Liverpool to Dublin route. This would see the transfer of the European Leader to the Fleetwood route.
In 2004 P&O closed it's Fleetwood - Larne services with a sale of all interests to the Swedish, Stena Line group. In addition to the service rights, the European Leader, European Pioneer and European Seafarer were also sold to Stena Line. At the same time, P&O announced the closure of the Mostyn - Dublin service due to low passenger numbers, this subsequently led to the sale of the European Ambassador and the European Envoy for further service in Europe
[edit] Ships Operated by P&O Irish Sea
- European Causeway (built in 2000)
- European Highlander (built in 2002)
- European Mariner (built in 1978)
- Norbank (built in 1994)
- Norbay (built in 1994)
- P&O Express (FastCat, official name is simply Express)
- RR Triumph (built 1997)
[edit] Former P&O Irish Sea Ships
- Jetliner (1996 - 2000) - Now with PELNI (Norwegian Fast Ferries)
- Superstar Express (2000 - 2004) - Now with Buquebus in Spain
- European Leader - ex Buffalo (1974 - 2004) - Now with Stena Line
- European Seafarer - ex Puma (1980 - 2004) - Now with Stena Line
- European Pioneer - ex Bison (1974 - 2004) - Now with Stena Line
- European Navigator - ex Leopard, Viking Trader
- European Pathfinder - ex Panther, European Clearway - Now with TEF
- European Envoy - ex Ibex (1996 - 2004) - Now with NedLines
- European Ambassador (2000 - 2004) - Now with Stena Line
- Pride of Ailsa - ex Pride of Sandwich, Free Enterprise VI - Sunk in the Suez Canal
- Pride of Rathlin - ex Pride of Walmer, Free Enterprise VII - Now operating in Singapore
[edit] Routes
- Larne - Cairnryan - Conventional ferries (year round) & fast craft service (spring-autumn)
- Larne - Troon - Conventional ferry (year round) & fast craft service (spring-autumn)
- Dublin - Liverpool - Conventional ferries (year round)
[edit] Former routes
- Fleetwood - Larne (1973 - 2004, route and ships sold to Stena Line.)
- Mostyn - Dublin (2001 - 2004)
- Liverpool - Belfast (1971 - 1981)
- Ardrossan - Larne (service moved to Troon in 2002)
- Rosslare - Cherbourg (1993 - 2005, taken over by by Celtic Link)
