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| 09 Oct 2009 |
clipper pennant joins dublin route
Seatruck Ferries, Irish Sea Shipping Line of the Year, is delighted to announce the arrival of the Clipper Pennant on the Dublin – Liverpool service. The brand new vessel will join her sister ship the Clipper Pace to offer an unrivaled freight service with twice the capacity of the vessel that she replaces on this key route. The first sailing will depart next week on Tuesday morning from Liverpool arriving in Dublin on Tuesday afternoon.
The vessel will improve the current schedule with a fast service speed of 22 knots permitting a reliable early am arrival Liverpool at 05:00 hrs. For morning traffic ex Liverpool the extra speed will also enable a reliable afternoon arrival in Dublin at 17:00 hrs. A copy of the new schedule is available on the Seatruck website www.seatruckferries.com
The much needed extra capacity is generating a great deal of interest in this route which has bucked the market conditions and already seen 15% increase in traffic this year. With many operators choosing to send more of their traffic this way the addition of the Clipper Pennant will be a welcome relief. September was a record month for Seatruck on this route with volumes up some 40% compared with the same month in 2008!
The freight only unaccompanied model is clearly winning support, by using Liverpool operators can save valuable road miles when compared with the short sea option.
In addition to the speed and capacity of the new ships the large open decks with probably the best ramp interfaces and free heights on the Irish Sea are proving to be a real benefit. The continued aim of Seatruck is to have the best trailer care record on the Irish Sea.
For driver accompanied traffic the single cabins on all of the P series vessels are proving to be a real hit. Offering friendly service, freshly cooked meals to order and in room satellite television drivers are choosing to travel with Seatruck. The addition of the Pennant now also brings this new level of driver accompanied service to all of the sailings on the Dublin route.
Managing Director Alistair Eagles comments
"It is fantastic to finally have all 4 of our new vessels in service. We now have the youngest fleet on the Irish Sea. Our volumes are growing as more Irish Sea traffic switches to our unaccompanied freight only model. By using our routes which are closer to the origin and destination of the goods operators can also save significant road miles when compared with the more traditional short sea options. The design of the P class vessels is proving to be a huge selling point as is the friendly service that our customers receive. Recently we have been capacity constrained on the Dublin route but with the addition of the Clipper Pennant we expect our volumes to continue growing even though the overall market numbers are still negative, this underlines the success of the Seatruck model" | |
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