Irish Continental Group's (ICG) long-term charter of the Baltic Sea cruise ferry Star, renamed twice during its Irish Ferries role, has ceased operations after entering service almost two years ago, writes Jehan Ashmore.
It was in April 2023 when ICG announced it was to charter the Tallink Grupp’s Star, custom-built in 2007 in Finland (at the same shipyard group that also built the Ulysses), which on Monday was observed arriving in Dublin Bay, fresh from routine annual dry-docking at the Fayard A/S yard in Lindoe, Odense, Denmark.
The Ulysses resumed sailings on the route to Holyhead yesterday. The first by the cruise ferry since early December’s Storm Darragh, of which Afloat will have more to report from the partially reopened Port of Holyhead—owned and operated by Stena Line.
Currently, both operators are running a revised sailing timetable on the core Irish Sea corridor route linking Ireland and the UK, with just one of the two terminal berths in operation at Holyhead, hindering normal operations. Further disruption during Storm Éowyn from Friday led to cancelled crossings across the Irish Sea, but sailings later on Saturday afternoon resumed, until another spate of adverse weather also saw sailings cancelled and today with some delays.
As for the former Tallinn-Helsinki ‘shuttle’ servicing Star, it made its Irish debut in May 2023 for the Dublin-based company as the renamed Oscar Wilde, initially on the Rosslare-Pembroke route, replacing chartered Blue Star 1. This was followed by serving between the Irish capital and the North Wales port. Its impressive service turn of speed has proved a bonus, enabling passage times to be better maintained when circumstances have caused delays.
Service also by the 2,080 passenger /2,380 vehicle-lane ferry also took place on the Dublin-Cherbourg route, offering 134 cabins. They were best utilized on the longer overnight route. It would seem its replacement, ropax Isle of Inisheer, which has already briefly served the Ireland-France route, a role last carried out on the continental service was by another ropax, Epsilon, also on charter, is now in Scandinavia.
However, the Isle of Inisheer as a ropax does not match the cruise ferry standards of W.B. Yeats, which, following Ulysses' return on the Ireland-Wales route, transferred from its winter role onto the Ireland-France albeit weekend sailings so far. Therefore, 'Inisheer' likewise of Epsilon, sails on the Irish Sea route and at the weekends also on the continental route.
Last year, the second renaming revealed the name of James Joyce, an Irish Ferries first, which took place in Rosslare in advance of ‘Bloomsday’ to free up the name of Oscar Wilde for another chartered ferry from P&O, Spirit of Britain, before it made a debut on the UK-France route of Dover-Calais. On this link is where rival twin fleetmate Spirit of France operates.
Oscar Wilde, as previously reported, recently completed its routine dry-docking at Cammell Laird, part of the APCL Group, a first for the Merseyside yard.
Having concluded its final sailing for Irish Ferries from Pembroke to Rosslare to boost capacity following the aftermath of Holyhead’s temporary closure, Afloat also recently tracked James Joyce in the English Channel bound for Dunkerque (East). A speculated dry-docking did not take place; however, before returning to service on Tallink's Paldiski (Estonia)-Kapellskär (Sweden) route, Star will undergo the necessary renewal and preparatory work in dry dock at Naantali, Finland.
When James Joyce first docked in the French port, it occupied two berths, with the second having shifted to a berth at Damen Shiprepair Dunkerque. As also reported, the Irish Ferries Dover-Calais cruise ferry, Isle of Inishmore, had too arrived. It has since entered the facility’s floating dry-dock, while fleetmate Oscar Wilde (the 'second' one, as referred to above), operates solely before business picks up in the spring.
Afloat caught up with James Joyce, having continued its repositioning passage from the French port into the North Sea and through Scandinavian waters, and its arriving on Tuesday at its owner's home port of Tallinn, the Estonian capital. Berthed ahead was the Baltic Queen, a fleetmate whose role is outlined below.
With its return, Tallink Grupp also, as alluded to, announced it is to start operating Star on the Paldiski-Kapellskär route next month, from Sunday, 9 February, where also operating is rival DFDS, which is also a competitor with Irish Ferries on continental routes to France.
According to Tallink, the Star is a significant step-up in service quality on the company’s Estonia-Sweden route, offering car passengers and cargo transporters an opportunity to travel between the nations from different ports almost daily, with up to two daily departures on some days. The route is marketed as a comfortable alternative for those passengers travelling by car who prefer to avoid driving through the capitals of Estonia or Sweden.
The Star with its enhanced facilities will be a welcomed development on the route compared to the ro-ro freight ships Regal Star and Sailor, which have operated until now. The reintroduction of the Star will bring too many of their guests memories of the cruise ferry from its previous Baltic Sea operations.
Paldiski is located on the Pakri Peninsula in northwestern Estonia, and Kapellskär is about 90 km north of Stockholm, the Swedish capital. On certain weekdays, it will even be possible to travel between the two countries twice a day, including daytime crossings.
Due to port service restrictions, alongside cargo and cargo transporters, Star will primarily cater to car passengers. It will operate on an intensified schedule, alternating in the opposite direction to the schedule of the company’s cruise ferry, Baltic Queen, which sails between Tallinn and Stockholm. This ensures that ferry travel between Estonia and Sweden is again possible almost daily.
