Swansea-Cork ferry service set to return

SEA TRAVEL:PORT OF CORK Company is optimistic that the ferry service between Cork and Swansea, in Wales, will resume by the beginning of the tourist season.

The return of the service, which was suspended in 2007, would boost businesses in the southwest, and Fáilte Ireland is hopeful it will return. The service is worth an estimated €30 million a year to the Cork and Kerry region.

The ferry was terminated when Swansea Cork Ferries sold its 35-year-old MV Superferry with a view to replacing it.

Following extensive negotiations, Port of Cork Company’s commercial manager, Capt Michael McCarthy, says two potential vessels have been identified for the route, adding that an international bank has provided about 60 per cent of the funding. While some investors have been secured, others need to be found in the next three weeks, to allow customers time to book for summer, he says.

Many businesses in the Cork and Kerry region say there has been a dramatic decline in visitors since the closure of the route. “The trade feels it is very important that the route is reinstated,” says Fiona Buckley, general manager of Fáilte Ireland Southwest. “In west Cork, the Beara Peninsula and Ballybunion, the car-touring market was more prominent when we had the service.”

In particular, tourists on family activity and adventure holidays find the car ferry cheaper than low-cost airlines, because they have to bring luggage, golf clubs, surfboards and bikes.

Meanwhile, a proposed ferry service from Cork to Gijon, in northern Spain, will not be up and running for this summer. Port of Cork Company, which has been negotiating with potential financiers and operators, is hopeful it will begin next year. A spokeswoman says she has received many inquiries from the public about the service.