New Cork ferry set to carry 250,000 passengers to France 

Cork’s new year-round direct ferry service to France, which was launched yesterday, expects to carry 250,000 passengers and 70,000 trucks in its first year.

The service, which is operated by Hibernia Line, will link Ringaskiddy to Boulogne-sur-Mer and will operate six sailings per week in each direction, from June 12.

Ferries will depart Cork at 9pm for the 21.5-hour journey. In the opposite direction, sailings will leave Boulogne-sur-Mer at 10pm and arrive in Ringaskiddy the following evening.

Headquartered in Cork, Hibernia Line has created 250 jobs, 35 of them in Cork.

Some of its employees will be cadets from Ringaskiddy’s National Maritime College of Ireland.

Speaking at the launch, Hibernia Line CEO Aidan Coffey said the company had made an initial investment “north of €20m” in the new ferry route.

A major shareholder is the Goodman Group, the huge agri-business and investment company associated with the 88-year-old ‘beef baron’ Larry Goodman, founder of the ABP Food group, one of Europe’s largest beef processors.

The cost of a Hibernia Line return ticket from Ringaskiddy to Boulogne-sur-Mer for a car and two passengers, including a cabin, will be €500, Mr Coffey said.

This is competitive, given that the average cost of such a journey on rival services ranges upwards from €600 to €1,000 at peak times.

Bookings are now open for passengers, with freight bookings due to launch from Monday, June 1.

Mr Coffey said the company had taken charge of its first ship and, because — according to one theory — St Patrick was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer, it has been named after the national saint.

Hibernia Line will take charge of its second ship, the MV Akka, in Sweden tomorrow.

The St Patrick has a deck space of 2,200 lane metres, while the MV Akka can carry 2,500 lane metres of freight and passenger vehicles.

“We are reserving cabins for drivers, which is a big thing in the freight industry; nobody has committed to that before,” Mr Coffey said.

“We’ll be having a carvery-style restaurant onboard and we’ll also have a bistro. And then, of course, there’ll be a bar and a main lounge.”

He said he is confident that — despite the war in the Middle East — this was a good time to launch a new ferry service, and he was confident of an assured fuel supply.