Host port to two daily return sailings from Rosslare, operated by the company’s modern cruise ferry vessel ‘Isle of Inishmore’, Pembroke has formed part of the Irish Ferries route network since the 22nd May 1979 when the service between Pembroke and Rosslare was inaugurated by the then B&I Line company.
The Pembroke Dock terminal was brought into operation in 1978 with a sailing of the mv ‘Connacht’, a vessel built in the Verolme Cork Dockyard at a cost of EUR18 million. Owned and operated by B&I Line, the Connacht was the most expensive vessel in the company’s fleet and was considered to be the most luxurious vessel on the Irish Sea at that time.
Before transferring operations to Pembroke, B&I Line had operated services between Swansea and Cork.
Since 1979, Irish Ferries have operated a variety of ships on its Pembroke service. A major expansion took place in 1997 with the arrival of the ‘Isle of Innisfree’. This was followed in 2001 by the introduction of the present vessel ‘Isle of Inishmore’, the largest ship ever to use the Pembroke Dock terminal.
Irish Ferries was recently awarded Ferry Company of the Year 2008 by the Irish Travel Trade and also Best Ferry Company 2009 by Irish consumers in a recent on-line poll.
In 2008, Irish Ferries carried 1.5 million passengers, 380,000 cars and 241,000 freight vehicles on their four routes in and out of Ireland.
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