Irish Ferries' recently introduced ferry, the OSCAR WILDE, serving the Holyhead to Dublin route, commenced operations a day ahead of schedule, starting service on February 10th. The vessel departed its maintenance lay-up at Larne Harbour late on February 9 and began service with the afternoon sailing from Dublin the following day.
So far, the OSCAR WILDE has seamlessly integrated into the route's operations. Starting this weekend, the OSCAR WILDE will operate a weekend roundtrip on the Dublin to Cherbourg route. This entails a 18:30 sailing from Dublin on Fridays, arriving in Cherbourg at 14:30 on Saturdays, with the return journey departing Cherbourg at 18:30 on Saturdays, arriving at 12:30 on Sundays. Once the Summer schedule commences in June, the OSCAR WILDE will alternate weekend trips, departing from Ireland on Fridays and Saturdays, as the main French ship, W.B. YEATS, sails 7 days per week.
Joining the ULYSSES as the secondary conventional vessel on the Holyhead-Dublin route, the OSCAR WILDE replaces the EPSILON and enables a shorter operating season for the DUBLIN SWIFT high-speed craft, the third vessel on the route. This year, the fast craft will only be utilized from May 17 to September 30.
The chartered RoPax OSCAR WILDE arrived at Larne port just after 06:00 on February 1. Docking at Larne's Curran Quay, it holds the distinction of being the largest vessel ever to dock at the port in terms of gross tonnage, at 36,249 GT.
After departing Rosslare at 17:30 on January 31, the vessel sailed overnight to Larne, concluding its final sailing on the Southern Corridor route with the early morning trip from Pembroke Dock. Irish Ferries substituted the OSCAR WILDE with the chartered vessel NORBAY.
During its stay at Larne, the OSCAR WILDE underwent various maintenance tasks, the most significant being the extension of its bow ramp to facilitate drive-through operations on the Holyhead route. It now typically berths bow-in at Dublin.
The NORBAY will continue to operate the Rosslare to Pembroke Dock route until Irish Ferries secures a vessel with higher passenger capacity. However, the P&O-owned vessel is scheduled for drydock at Falmouth around February 26 for ~3 weeks.