#FerrytoMed - The Fastnet Line ferry Julia which ran the Cork-Swansea link until the route closed in 2011, has been sold on from a floating accommodation owner to a Mediterranean based ferry operator, writes Jehan Ashmore.

C-Bed, a Dutch company specialising in accommodating workers offshore on ships during the construction of wind-farm turbine sites, sold the vessel to Moby Lines. The Italian operator is to launch the ferry this summer on a new France-Corsica route.

The change of ownership will be the first time Wind Perfection will resume in a ‘ferry’ role since Fastnet Line’s Julia operated the year-round service on the Celtic Sea. In recent years the Wind Perfection was stationed on the Irish Sea at a wind-farm installation site off the outer approaches leading to Heysham, Lancashire.

The new Moby Line service on the Nice-Bastia route is to begin in June and will be part of a network of routes from French and Italian mainland to ports on Corsica, Sardinia and Elba.

By introducing the 1,850 passenger/325 car/30 truck capacity Wind Perfection to be renamed Moby Zaza, the newcomer will be in direct competition with Corsica-Sardinia Ferries. Likewise of Fastnet Line, the route will operate overnight crossings of 9 hours albeit not as long the 11 hours duration on the Celtic Sea. 

At 22,161 tonnes Julia was easily the largest ever ferry to sail on the southern Ireland-Wales service that Fastnet Line began in 2010 having acquired the 1981 German built ferry from a Finnish Bank through the Cork Tourism Co-Operative Society Limited. Because of the initiative by the co-operative that founded Fastnet Line, the company was dubbed “the peoples ferry“.

The restored route followed the withdrawal by Swansea Cork Ferries with the sale of the Superferry.

Today, it is exactly four years ago when Fastnet Line announced on 2 February, 2012 that the route would close and that there would be no sailings in that year, following a failed examinership with the direct loss of 78 jobs.

Despite the efforts of Fastnet Line, they were unable to attract sufficient year-round freight business and seasonal UK based tourist market. The venture failed to secure funds of €1m plus to enable further trading on the Celtic Sea. The company claimed expected losses of €30 million in direct tourist spending in the Munster region and over €20 million in south Wales.

In 2013, a report concluded any attempt to reinstate the service was not feasible due the "economic and competitive climate”.

This leaves the current southern corridor routes confined to short-sea services operated from Rosslare to southern Wales. They are Stena Line sailing to Fishguard and Irish Ferries running to Pembroke (see, new director for Milford Haven).