Irish Sea Debut For Seatruck Performance

Senior Managers of Irish Sea freight ferry specialists Seatruck attended the launch of Seatruck Performance, the third in a series of four newbuildings, at FSG Flensburg Yard, Germany, on Thursday January 12. The new vessel was named by Mrs Virginia O’Reilly, wife of Eugene O’Reilly, Managing Director of Dublin-based O’Reilly Transport.

The first of the large ro-ro newbuildings, Seatruck Progress, is now operating on Seatruck’s busy Liverpool-Dublin route. The second ferry in the series, Seatruck Power, will join this route in mid February. The third vessel, Seatruck Performance, will begin operations in the Irish Sea in April. The fourth new ferry will be launched at FSG at the end of March and enter service in June.

Seatruck’s unaccompanied trailer operations on the Irish Sea continue to boom. Volumes last year rose by a remarkable 58 per cent, to over 300,000 units. The company now offers 80 sailings weekly on four routes: Liverpool-Dublin, Heysham-Dublin, Heysham-Warrenpoint and Heysham-Larne.

Alistair Eagles, Seatruck’s Managing Director, Irish Sea, says: “The Seatruck Progress has already added extra capacity to the Dublin route. We look forward to the Seatruck Power and now the Seatruck Performance also joining the fleet. Seatruck now has around 20 per cent of the Irish Sea market and we continue to gain momentum.”

“Our success centres on the cost-efficiencies of the unaccompanied trailer solution. Put simply, it is the most favourable cost option for the movement of goods. Furthermore, our UK ports, Heysham and Liverpool, are also much closer to the origin and destination of goods than traditional routings via Scotland and Wales. We offer cost savings and lower road mileage.”

The new ro-ro vessels have a length of 142 m, breadth of 25 m and a deadweight of 5,300 tonnes. They each have a capacity of 150 units - 35 more than the earlier “P Class” ships.