Irish Continental Line was formed in 1973 as a joint venture between
Irish Shipping, Fearnley & Eger and
Swedish company
Lion Ferry. It originally operated on the Rosslare–
Le Havre route with the 547 berth, 210 car ferry
Saint Patrick. When Irish Shipping went into liquidation in 1984, Irish Continental Line was sold off in a management buyout and emerged as Irish Continental Group. In 1992, ICG took over the
British and Irish Steam Packet Company Limited, a nationalised company which traded under the name
B&I Line and operated ferry services between Dublin and Holyhead and between Rosslare and Pembroke Dock. In 2005, Irish Ferries replaced all its workers with foreign agency labour that was cheaper than that of its rivals, such as
P&O Ferries,
Stena Line and
DFDS, thereby undercutting their prices. Its competitive practice, as well as the use of security personnel to carry out the replacement of its crewmembers, were described by many in the industry as a "blueprint" for P&O's
2022 sacking of hundreds of its seafarers.
Investment As part of its offer to buy B&I Line, management at ICG undertook to invest in replacing what was an ageing fleet. Over the following decade, a programme of fleet renewal was undertaken involving investment of €500 million to create what was described as the most modern ferry fleet in western Europe. New vessels were built such as
Ulysses,
Isle of Innisfree (now on charter in New Zealand as
Kaitaki),
Isle of Inishmore and a fast ferry
Jonathan Swift, all for service on its Ireland–UK routes. As a result, the company put itself in a position to attract increased passenger and freight business, influenced by the modern facilities and improved reliability of each vessel and the extra capacity that was available on board. On 31 May 2016, ICG announced that it had entered into an agreement with the German company
Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft to build a cruise ferry at a contract price of €144 million. The new cruise ferry can accommodate 1,880 passengers and crew, with 435 cabins and with capacity for 2,800 lane metres of freight (165 freight vehicles) plus an additional dedicated car deck with capacity for 300 passenger cars. Summer 2018 bookings for the new ferry were cancelled due to delays in its delivery from the shipyard. In March 2021, Irish Ferries, in a surprise announcement, revealed that they were opening a new route between
Dover and
Calais, due to start in June, later revealed to be June 29th. This is the first such route that Irish Ferries operates which does not call in Ireland, with Dover and Calais being two major UK and French ports respectively. The service began with the operating between the two ports, with two more ships due to enter service – the
MS Isle of Innisfree (1991, ex-
Calais Seaways) in December 2021, and (ex- "Ciudad de Mahón
) in April 2022
. ==Awards==