Irish Continental Group Plc (ICG)
Disruption to the vessel Ulysses
ICG announces that the Ulysses, operated by ICG’s subsidiary Irish Ferries on the Dublin / Holyhead route, reported technical difficulties with its Starboard Controllable Pitch Propeller on the 24th June. The vessel entered drydock in Belfast on the 28th June. The investigation and repairs to the vessel were expected to take no longer than 5 days allowing her to resume service on the 4th July. We have now been informed by service engineers that the issue is more serious than originally anticipated and they expect the vessel will be out of service for a further period of 1 to 2 weeks.
In advance of her return to service, we will adjust the schedules of our other vessels to minimise the disruption to our customers as much as possible. The Dublin / Holyhead route will operate with the Epsilon on the Ulysses schedule alongside the Dublin Swift which will operate additional evening sailings.
Irish Ferries would like to apologise to all our passenger and freight customers for this technical disruption. Despite our best efforts we can find no replacement tonnage in what is now the peak tourism season. It is the first major disruption on the Ulysses since her deployment on the Dublin Holyhead service in 2001.
END
Enquiries:
Irish Continental Group plc
Eamonn Rothwell, CEO: +353 1 607 5628
David Ledwidge, CFO: +353 1 607 5628
For media enquiries: Gerry O’Sullivan Q4 Communications +353 1 4751444