Oscar Wilde, Irish Ferries newest addition, freshly repainted in the company’s livery, made its maiden call to Dublin Port yesterday while en route from Belfast to other Irish Sea ports, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The former shuttle ferry the Star that served a Baltic Sea capitals link, had undergone rebranding in dry-dock at Harland & Wolff, following its charter from the Tallink Grupp to the Irish Continental Group (ICG), the parent company of Irish Ferries.
Initially the Oscar Wilde is to serve on Irish Ferries Rosslare-Pembroke route by replacing another chartered ferry, Blue Star 1. The Greek flagged ferry is due in the Irish port this evening before 1900hrs.
Whereas the Oscar Wilde has been tracked by Afloat, having vacated the berth for the inbound Blus Star 1. As for the Oscar Wilde's maiden commercial sailing, it is understood this is to take place possibly tonight or in the next day or so.
These sailing schedules, follow Afloat's observation of Oscar Wilde when entering Dublin Bay yesterday after an overnight passage from Belfast where also at H&W, the interior facilities had a makeover to match those of the fleet that includes ferries operating Dover-Calais.
Facilities on the Oscar Wilde that have been given the Irish Ferries rebranding treatment include, an a la carte restaurent, a bar, self-service restaurent, club class lounge, gaming zone, pet facilities and a children’s play area.
In addition, the newcomer with a 2,080 passenger capacity with 134 cabins, will have the largest duty-free shop on the Irish Sea.There will also be separate facilities for freight-drivers with use of 2,380 lane meters for freight vehicles as well for coaches and cars.
Once past the Baily Lighthouse on Howth Head, Oscar Wilde headed for the Dublin Bay Buoy yesterday morning at 0900hrs which was followed by the ferry making a full circle turn before proceeding into the capital port.
Also in the bay was another Irish Ferries fleetmate, the ropax Epsilon which was at anchorage in between sailings that run in tandem with flagship cruiseferry W.B. Yeats on the Dublin-Cherbourg route.
When within the channel fairway, Dublin Port Company tugs Beaufort and Shackleton welcomed the Oscar Wilde with a traditional maritime display as the tug’s gave a water cannon salute over the bow of the ferry.
The call to Dublin Port was to conduct berthing trials at both linkspans of Terminal 1 where Irish Ferries also operate the cruiseferry Ulysses and fastferry Dublin Swift on the Holyhead route.
On completion of trials, which only took a few hours, Oscar Wilde was back in Dublin Bay, this time bound for Holyhead where further trails took place.
As of this morning, Oscar Wilde had arrived in Rosslare, having completed a second overnight passage in the Irish Sea when sailing from the north Wales port. The replacement ferry was preparing in Wexford for its debut on the southern Ireland-Wales route.
Berthing trails were not necessary in both the Wexford and Pembrokeshire ports as Afloat previously reported, along with those at Cherbourg, as they had occured during the Star’s delivery voyage from Estonia to Ireland.
