Stena Horizon, which recently left Stena Line’s newly opened freight-only Dublin-Liverpool (Birkenhead) route for annual dry-docking, had completed a previous career on this date a decade ago with an Irish ferry company, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Operating albeit in freight mode, the 27,522-tonne Stena Horizon in mid-February launched the Ireland-England corridor route following P&O Ferries’ withdrawal of their service last year but was based out of Liverpool docks. The 186.5-metre ropax, however, was only a temporary measure until a more suitable dedicated freight ship could be sourced, which led to the MV Bore Song, which Stena has secured as the route’s permanent vessel, but not until it enters in mid-April.

In the meantime, as Stena Horizon is dry-docked at A&P Falmouth, Cornwall, a fleetmate ropax, Stena Nordica (which has yet to return to Rosslare-Fishguard; see story), took over the Liffey-Merseyside route. This releasing the Cantiere Navale di Visentini shipyard in Italy built Stena Line ropax, which previously named Celtic Horizon, on 31 March, 2014, Afloat reported of it completing a final ever round trip on the Rosslare-Cherbourg route for Celtic Link Ferries, based out of the ‘Europort’ in Co. Wexford.

This end-of-an era English Channel / Celtic Sea crossing of Celtic Horizon was under the command of Captain Richard Collins and his 50 crew (see related: 'A View from the Bridge' having previously interviewed for ‘Ships Monthly’ and printed in the February issue the year before.

On that final day in March, a decade ago, when disembarking as a foot passenger, a senior Celtic Link Ferries official informed me that the paperwork to transfer the business was been finalised with Stena Line. The large Swedish company that was acquiring the Irish company would then commence operations the next day, 1 April.

The origins of Celtic Link Ferries are local, as the owners, the O’Flaherty Brothers, have a large trawler fleet and the Saltees Fish processing plant in Kilmore Quay. However, when the Ireland-France route’s previous operator, P&O Ferries, announced its closure in 2004, this posed a major challenge in their supply chain to exporting fish products to markets, particularly in France, Spain, and Italy.

At that time, Rosslare Europort did not have the choice and frequency of services (with only Irish Ferries) to mainland Europe, as experienced currently with the Brexit-bypass boom, so this led the O’Flaherty Brothers and investors to acquire the P&O route along with their ro-ro freight ferry, European Diplomat, which was simply renamed Diplomat for the new operator, Celtic Link Ferries. The fledging company in 2005 reinstated the passenger/freight link but would also add, over the years, freight-only routes on the central Irish Sea and English Channel using chartered tonnage.

The 1978-built Diplomat with limited passenger facilities was ageing and was replaced in the form of another Visentini-built ropax, the Norman Voyager, which was sub-chartered from LD Lines. The French ferry subsidiary of Louis Dreyfus had originally operated on their Rosslare-Le Havre route after a long absence from when Irish Ferries served this route.

With the passage of time, Norman Voyager headed off service for a career with Brittany Ferries, which ultimately led to the third and final ferry of the company, Celtic Horizon, on a five-year charter from the Italian shipyard owners to Celtic Link. The ropax entered service in 2011 and became the first and only vessel during the ferry company’s’ history to be given a name reflecting its brand name and also to be displayed on the funnel, as the previous vessels just had the initials ‘C L’.

The Italian flagged vessel with the Adriatic port of Bari as its registry is retained with Stena, which, following its transfer of the ‘no frills’ ropax, received an overhaul and refurbishment upgrade to bring the ferry to higher standards as expected by the large operator. This was the first time for Stena to have a route between Ireland and mainland Europe, complementing its network on the Irish Sea, the North Sea, and Scandinavia.

Last weekend Stena Horizon arrived at the A&P Falmouth and is to remain in dry dock until resuming Rosslare-Cherbourg service on 9 April, re-joining Stena Vision. The much larger cruise-ferry, which has exclusively spent a career solely in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea since being built in 1987, made its debut on the French connection less than a year ago.

Since its introduction in June, the cruise ferry has considerably boosted business, having attracted customers and given its extensive range of facilities and cabin choices compared to the ropax.