Friday 25th September 2009 marked the beginging of a new era for the tourisim industry of the South West region of Ireland, as the MV Julia made her maiden voyage into Cork Harbour. In March 2010 the new Fastnet Line Ferry MV Julia will operate the revived ferry link between the ports of Swansea and Cork.

Since the demise of the previous Swansea – Cork Ferry in 2006, tourism in the region began to suffer and with no state support in sight, a small lobby group got together and the West Cork Tourism Co-op was formed in early 2009. Meetings were held and investors sought to pledge financial contributions to assist in purchasing a new Ferry and by March 2009 €2.6 million had been raised. Other significant partnerships were formed and further contributions helped acheive the €3 million required to purchase a vessel for €7.8 million.

Harrington Estates are proud to announce that they are investors in conjunction with Glengarriff Tourist Association of the “bring back the Swansea Cork Ferry” campaign and like many others are delighted that this service will be making a welcome return in 2010 in what can only be a huge boost to the region.

Currently docked in Cork Harbour until March 2010 for fitting out, the ten deck, 154 metre long, 22,000 tonne, Julia has a capacity for 1,860 passengers, 440 cars, 30 trucks for hauliers, in excess of 300 cabins, numerous restaurants & bars and children’s play area. The MV Julia was built in 1982 and previously sailed between Helskini and St. Petersburg.

For up to-date information on the new Swansea – Cork Ferry link log onto
www.fastnetline.com or www.bringbacktheswanseacorkferry.com

This entry was posted on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 10:54 am and is filed under News & Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.