#FerryNews - Holiday plans of thousands of families travelling to France this summer have been thrown into disarray after Irish Ferries cancelled bookings on its new WB Yeats ferry scheduled to depart in July, writes The Irish Times. 

In emails sent to affected passengers late on Friday evening, the company’s managing direct Andrew Sheen said it had “just been informed by the German shipyard building the WB Yeats, the ship on which you are currently booked, that her delivery to Irish Ferries is likely to be delayed.”

He said while the delay has yet to be “fully confirmed by the shipyard we have, in the interests of minimising the level of potential disruption to you, taken the decision to cancel your sailing. We will contact you and offer you a space we have held for you on the MV Oscar Wilde close to your booked sailing date.”

The email correspondence said that n the absence of an acceptable alternative passengers will be entitled to a full refund.

To read more on the delays of the €150m newbuild cruiseferry, click here. 

#FerryNews - Progress on Irish Continental Group's €150m cruiseferry W.B. Yeats has considerably moved on since the launch of the completed hull at a German yard almost a month ago, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Construction of the newbuild's hull (photos) was kept separate to where the accommodation superstructure was built. This took place place in various facilities in neighbouring Poland. The superstructure housing facilities for 1,885 passengers and cabins totaling 435 was constructed using three giant blocks.

According to Poland @ Sea, each of the block sections;fore, amidships and aft were towed on barge-pontoons (see photos) from Poland to Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) in Flensburg. The technical and logistical exercise involved precise engineering skills when massive heavy-lift crane barges raised and lowered the component blocks onto the hull below.

Afloat has also been monitoring the time-schedule of this operation, as the final aft block section complete with funnel was placed into position last week at the fit-out berth at FSG.

In all the combined weight of the newly formed superstructure totals 5,500 tonnes. As for the length of the hull at 195m, this is longer to the capital's iconic ‘Spire’ if laid on its side which measures at just 120m.

As previously reported, in the course of the next few months, remaining construction work on the hull (where most of the 3kms of vehicle deck space is) will be completed. In addition the fitting-out of the 54,985 gross tonnage ferry entails technical, operational, décor, furnishings and passenger amenities to be finished. This will make the ferry the most luxurious on the Irish Sea where some cabins will feature balconies which will be put to greater use on the longer French service.

Before scheduled services can commence, W.B. Yeats will undergo sea trials, crew training and docking procedures at French, UK and Irish ports into which it will operate. The maiden commercial voyage is scheduled to take place on the direct continental Dublin-Cherbourg route in mid-July and where the cruiseferry will serve the busy summer months.

In the Autumn, W.B. Yeats will transfer to the core Irish Sea route of Dublin-Holyhead. This leaves services maintained on the year-round Ireland-France route to be operated by ropax Epsilon.

In the meantime, Irish Ferries Rosslare-Cherbourg route for this season resumes service today with a night-time departure. As usual routine cruiseferry Oscar Wilde will serve the continental route. The cruiseferry fresh from annual refit has been on temporary relief duties on the Holyhead route in addition to carrying out a once-off Dublin-Cherbourg round trip last weekend.

The re-deployment of Oscar Wilde was to facilitate Epsilon while also undergoing overhaul though the ferry is take up duties again on both the Dublin routes to Wales and France. The latter service sees the ropax return on the Dublin-Cherbourg service tomorrow mid-afternoon.

#FerryNews - Weather permitting, Irish Continental Group (ICG)’s €144m newbuild cruiseferry W.B. Yeats, is due to be launched tomorrow from a German shipyard, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The giant 55,500 gross tonnage W.B. Yeats with a capacity for 1,885 passengers and crew and 1,200 cars, is to be launched from the slip of Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft mbH & Co. KG (FSG).

Launching of W.B. Yeats will be a significant milestone for ICG as the cruiseferry will easily be the biggest ever to enter service for their ferry division Irish Ferries, however this will be upstaged by an even larger giant super-cruiseferry, as ICG recently placed an order also with FSG at a cost of €165.2m.

The super cruiseferry, estimated to be around 67,300 gross tonnage, is to be delivered by mid-2020 and operate the core Irish Sea Dublin-Holyhead route. The super-cruisferry will be more freight-orientated and will also be the biggest ferry in the world in terms of vehicle capacity. 

As for the W.B. Yeats, tomorrow's first contact of the cruise ferry with the water at the FSG shipyard is located in the German city on the Baltic Sea.

There remains plenty of work to be done as the luxurious cruiseferry will take several months before shipbuilders sea trials of W.B. Yeats can take place. In addition to berthing trials in mid-June following W. B. Yeats scheduled delivery voyage to Dublin Port. The cruiseferry at 195m is longer to the capital's iconic ‘Spire’ if laid on its side which measures just 120m.

Dublin Port is homeport to ICG headquarters and where existing flagship, Ulysses operates on the route to Holyhead. The 50,000 gross tonnage cruiseferry built by Aker Finnyards, Finland in 2001, bears a strong design resemblance to that of W.B. Yeats.

Irish Ferries are firstly to deploy W.B. Yeats on an Ireland-France around mid-July, this will be the Dublin-Cherbourg route. The new cruiseferry is to enter service ready in time for the summer's high-season months.

The continental route opened in recent years by the chartered-in ropax Epsilon, offering a no-frills service, is to be replaced by the W.B. Yeats which will be a considerable improvement given the extensive range of passenger facilities. They include a Club Class lounge, an á la carte and self-service restaurants, cinema, shopping mall and a variety of bars and choice of lounges.

W.B. Yeats will also raise the bar as accommodation for 440 cabins will include luxury suites with their own private balconies. This feature is a first for Irish Ferries and will be appreciated more so during the summer and on the longer continental crossings. This compared to the short-sea Dublin-Holyhead route, when W.B. Yeats is to make a second new debut by serving on the Welsh service from September.

At that stage, it will be a year since the cruiseferry’s official keel-laying ceremony took place at FSG. The Flensburg shipyard will be kept busy with construction of the ‘jumboised’ version of W.B. Yeats half-sister super-cruiseferry, given designs seen by Afloat which will be revealed soon on FerryNews.