The Irish shipping company Hibernia Line has announced that it will soon launch its first ferry service between Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France and Cork in south-western Ireland.
Hibernia Line will deploy two ferries to operate six crossings a week between Boulogne-sur-Mer and Cork from mid-June.
Departures will be in the evening, with the crossing taking approximately 21.5 hours, the company said in a statement.
The company said bookings opened on May 7th, with fares starting at around €500 each way for a car and two passengers.
The two ferries that will operate the route are called the St Patrick and the MV Akka. The ships have the capacity for more than 600 passengers per sailing with around 200 cabins on each.
Hibernia Line says that both ferries will be “pet-friendly”. There will also be dining areas, lounges, a play area for children and gaming spaces.
Hibernia Line founder and chief executive, Aidan Coffey, said that while fuel prices are increasing amidst the conflict in the Middle Least, the company has no issues of supplies.
“We are not the same as the airline fuel. We are not the same as home heating oil. We operate on a different fuel altogether. We are assured that there is no problem in relation to supply,” Coffey said.
This new ferry route is also expected to create 250 jobs, including “more than 200 crew positions”, according to Hibernia Line. The majority of staff will be Irish, Peter Stolk, the company’s director of port operations, said during a press conference.
Several ferry routes between France and Ireland already exist. Among them is the route between Cork and Roscoff, on the north coast of Finistère.
Roscoff is home to the headquarters of the French company Brittany Ferries as well as an honorary consulate of Ireland since 2022.
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With reporting from AFP
