Clipper Panorama boosts Irish Sea service

Clipper Panorama, the second of Seatruck Ferries? eight newbuildings, enters service on the Irish Sea service linking Warrenpoint with Heysham on Sunday, January 25.

This new roro freight ferry will join sistership Clipper Point on the Warrenpoint-Heysham route, boosting capacity on this service to around 120,000 freight units annually. During 2008 Seatruck Ferries? vessels carried nearly 90,000 units on this important Irish Sea route.

The third and fourth 22 knot vessels in the series, Clipper Pace and Clipper Pennant, will enter service in March and May respectively, on Seatruck Ferries? Dublin-Liverpool route.

In a climate of tougher trading conditions, Seatruck Ferries expects to see a further increase in unaccompanied shipments across the Irish Sea during 2009, as this transport solution offers significant cost-savings. The new 120-unit ships are the only purpose-built freight ferries for Irish Sea service to be introduced over the past 20 years. Their service speed of 22 knots cuts the crossing time from nine hours to seven hours.

The Clipper Panorama replaces the Moondance which will be redeployed on a brand new Seatruck Ferries service from Frederica in Denmark to Moss in Norway. The new service will start on February 2, 2009.