Irish Ferries high-speed craft (HSC) Dublin Swift has been tracked by Afloat to Cardiff Docks, south Wales, where the vessel has been wintering, but in a month’s time is to resume seasonal service, writes Jehan Ashmore.
According to the Irish Ferries website, Dublin Swift is to start on 17 May with a Dublin-Holyhead sailing, and this will be in advance of the busier summer months on the Ireland-Wales route, complementing the year-round cruise-ferry-operated route.
Passage times by Dublin Swift are just over 2 hours (135 minutes) on the route on which the HSC represents the only fast ferry operating on the Irish Sea, connecting 'directly' between Ireland and the UK; the only other such craft is the Isle of Man Steam Packet’s Manannan; see yesterday's story.
Dublin Swift takes 900 passengers and drive-through vehicle decks for 200 cars and 16 trailers and provides two sailings daily from each port. On board, there is a club-class lounge, restaurant, cafe, shop, TV lounge, and passengers can avail of free Wi-fi.
The 101-metre Austal Auto-Express craft was built in 2001 by Austal Ship Pty, Fremantle, Western Australia, as the Westpac Express and was chartered through third-party companies to the US Marine Corps as a support vessel until it returned to Austal in 2015.
In the following year, Irish Continental Group (ICG), the parent company of Irish Ferries, acquired the HSC from Austal; however, the craft was chartered to the Sealift Inc. of the USA for use again by US Marine Corps until the charter ended in 2017. This led to the craft laid up in Belfast.
It was not until 2018 when the HSC was renamed Dublin Swift, which made its debut in April of that year for Irish Ferries.
The Cypriot flagged 101.4 metre-long craft and with a beam of 26.65 metres replaced another HSC, the Jonathan Swift, which was sold to interests in the Mediterranean.
