#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.