Larne to Cairnryan

The Larne to Cairnryan route was inaugurated in July 1973 by The Transport Ferry Service, the trading name of the Atlantic Steam Navigation Company (ASN), recently bought from public ownership by Townsend Thoresen. The old ASN Company had bought a small part of the Cairnryan breakers yard and had rebuilt the pier to accommodate ro-ro ferries, with a view to transferring their Larne to Preston service to the new port. In the end it was Townsend Thoresen who opened the route on Tuesday 10th July 1973, the Preston run having been closed in March 1973.

The first sailing was taken by the Ionic Ferry under the command of Captain William Close from Larne. Prior to taking up service the Ionic Ferry underwent an extensive refit at Belfast with much of the work involved with increasing her passenger certificate from 55 to 219.  Her top deck aft was cleared of its container crane to allow it to be used for cars and two additional lifeboats were fitted just aft of the superstructure.  Initially the Ionic Ferry offered a double round trip per day, 7 days per week. Sailing times from Larne were 0900 and 1600, with the return crossings leaving Cairnryan at 1230 and 1930.

This pattern continued until the first winter when many people who opposed the new service expected the route to close, assuming the berth at Cairnryan was too exposed and would succumb to bad weather. In the end the service continued throughout the winter relatively unchanged. The Ionic Ferry went off for refit with her sister, the Bardic Ferry from the Belfast to Preston run covering her sailings.

In the first year the route was marketed as a Transport Ferry Service, even though Townsend Thoresen owned it. Customers either side of the North Channel were more familiar with the old name rather than Townsend Thoresen whose sphere of influence was mainly along the south coast of England. However, in the second year of operation the route was marketed as an all out Townsend Thoresen service and for the summer season one of Townsend's own ferries was transferred from Dover to augment the sailings of the Ionic Ferry. The Free Enterprise III commenced operations on the North Channel in July 1974 and continued until the end of the summer. After the departure of the Free Enterprise III, the Bardic Ferry started running in tandem with her younger sister allowing the two ship service to continue throughout the winter.

Doric Ferry in Atlantic Steam Navigation Company livery.  Photo: Gary Andrews collection.

For the summer of 1975 Townsend transferred the Free Enterprise I to Larne but she was not a great success. The following year the newer Free Enterprise IV was brought round from Dover for the summer and she remained on the run all year round for a further 10 years. With the winding up of the Belfast to Preston service the Doric Ferry was now spare and joined the Free Enterprise IV on the Cairnryan service. This allowed the older Bardic Ferry and Ionic Ferry to be sold to Greek ship owners.

3. European Gateway

The European Gateway paid her first visit to Larne in March 1980 to cover for the refits of the Free Enterprise IV and the Doric Ferry. She was a stunning success on the service during her brief spell at Larne and it was Townsend's intention to employ her permanently on the service. At the end of 1980 she was lengthened by 15 metres and entered service at Larne in place of the Doric Ferry in 1981. Her performance impressed many at Larne and she is still regarded as one of the best ships that ever served the Cairnryan run, but fate was to play a cruel hand in her future.

In 1982 the European Gateway was transferred to Townsend's Felixstowe to Europoort service to cover the dry-docking of the ships on that service. Disaster was to strike on the night of the 19th of December 1982 when the European Gateway collided with the Sealink train ferry Speedlink Vanguard. The European Gateway was holed below the waterline and took on an increasing list to starboard. Within 30 minutes she had rolled over onto a sandbank. Of the 34 passengers and 36 crew six were lost, one of them being part of her Larne based crew.

4. The Aftermath of Tragedy

In the short term the Gaelic Ferry took up the sad job of replacing the lost European Gateway until she herself was replaced by the Europic Ferry in 1983. Thus the service remained right up until the take over by P&O in 1986. With older ships than their competitors Townsend continued to lose ground in the years following the European Gateway accident. The relief service of the Viking Viscount proved to be an impressive break from the norm, but her service only lasted for a couple of weeks in 1986.

During a fleet-wide reorganisation in 1986 the Free Enterprise IV was recalled to Dover, her place being taken by the even older, stern only loading Ionic Ferry (ex Dragon). The new addition revived the name of the pioneer ship on the route, but was still of similar vintage to the first Ionic Ferry. Again the route had to put up with ships that were rather old-fashioned compared to the rival Sealink service to Stranraer. The new Ionic Ferry made something of a celebrity of herself when she ran aground at Larne in thick fog on the 3rd of June 1987.

The transition of Townsend Thoresen to P&O in the aftermath of the Herald of Free Enterprise tragedy in March 1987 was relatively quiet at Larne. The vessels kept their original names and were gradually painted in the new corporate colours as they went in for refits. First the funnels gave way to the P&O house flag, then on the next refit the orange hull paint was repainted in P&O blue. By the spring of 1988 the last remnants of the Townsend Thoresen empire had been consigned to history.

Europic Ferry leaving Larne in her intermediate P&O/Townsend Thoresen livery. Photo: Gary Andrews

The new owners did little at Larne to improve their position against their rivals. The relief vessels during this time such as the Viking Trader and Roseanne provided a more modern service than the existing ships they covered for. It was not until 1992 that the route received some much needed upgrading. Two ships were transferred from Dover after being displaced from there by brand new freight ships. The new ships were renamed Pride of Ailsa (ex Pride of Sandwich, ex Free Enterprise VI) and Pride of Rathlin (ex Pride of Walmer, ex Free Enterprise VII). They entered service in the spring of 1992. The Ailsa was first to arrive and she replaced the Europic Ferry which stood down for refit, re-entering service as the European Freighter. The Pride of Rathlin arrived in June and replaced the Ionic Ferry, which was sold.

The Pride of Rathlin leaving Larne in 1999.  Photo: Gary Andrews 

The service was now in the strongest position it had ever been in, offering a three ship service with up to 8 round trips per day. The Ailsa and Rathlin provided 3 round trips each, with the European Freighter providing a further 2 round trips during the week, lying up at Ballylumford oil jetty during the weekends.

6. Competition on the North Channel

The established services of P&O and Sealink from Larne faced new competition in the form of Sea Containers, which started a new service from Belfast to Stranraer on the 1st of June 1992. The new service was started by the Seacat Scotland and offered up to 5 round trips per day at speeds in excess of 35 knots. The introduction of the new high speed option prompted some cost cutting from all three companies operating on the North Channel.

The increased competition did see one casualty on the North Channel. After covering for winter refits at both Larne and Felixstowe, the European Freighter said farewell to Larne in April 1993. She set sail for a new career in Greek waters with Med Link Lines, leaving the Pride of Ailsa and Pride of Rathlin to cope on their own. The two new ships had settled down nicely and had become extremely popular, but sadly were beginning to show their age. Although substantially refitted and rebuilt in 1985 both ships still had engines in excess of 20 years old and engine failure became a regular occurrence, especially with the Pride of Ailsa, which proved to be much more vulnerable than her younger sister.

Following increased speculation throughout 1995 Stena Sealink finally announced in September that they were withdrawing their Stranraer service from Larne in favour of Belfast. They also announced that a new high speed catamaran capable of carrying freight vehicles as well as cars was to be introduced from Belfast in 1996. The consequence of this announcement was to leave all Larne to Scotland traffic in the hands of P&O, who lost no time in making an announcement of their own.

Two weeks after the Stena announcement P&O announced the addition of a new ferry to the Cairnryan route, to cope with extra freight traffic that still wished to benefit from the shortest crossing from Northern Ireland to Scotland. Five days later, on the 25th of September 1995 the European Endeavour transferred from Dover. The European Endeavour was no stranger to Larne as she had carried out the relief duties on the route in 1994 and 1995 after the sale of the European Freighter. She entered service as the third vessel on the Cairnryan route operating up to 3 round trips per day, thus increasing capacity by around 50% over what it was previously. The arrival of the European Endeavour allowed the introduction of a 2130 sailing from Larne which became extremely popular with the truckers. Stena finally completed their move to Belfast in November 1995 and their high speed service commenced the following July.

With Stena outlining their intentions to enter the fast ferry market and Seacat already firmly established, it was inevitable that P&O would also enter the fray. This they did on the 12th of June 1996 when the monohull craft Jetliner entered service on the Cairnryan route. Up to 5 round trips per day were offered at first, later increasing to 6 trips during peak periods, with each crossing being completed in only one hour, compared to the usual 2 and a quarter hours by conventional ferry. The new service was as instant success, but it did spell the end for the Pride of Ailsa.

Having served 4 years at Larne the Pride of Ailsa completed service on the 15th of June under the command of Captain Eddie Irvine after covering for the Pride of Rathlin's refit. She was sold to Egyptian owners for conversion into a pilgrim carrier. With the departure of the Pride of Ailsa freight capacity on the route was maintained by the arrival of the European Trader, which took up service on the 10th of June. During her refit, the Pride of Rathlin had the headroom on her upper vehicle deck increased to 4.4 metres to cope for an increasing demand by hauliers for 78 pallet double decked trailers.

Throughout her career at Larne the Jetliner was fraught with problems. Engine trouble was a constant headache and over the winter of 1996/97 she was off for a couple of months with gearbox trouble. Consistently the Pride of Rathlin had to mop up stranded passengers and she provided a much more reliable, if relaxed service than her faster companion.

The Jetliner pictured at Larne.  Photo: Gary Andrews

More problems were to befall the route when the European Trader hit the ramp in Cairnryan when trying to depart in high winds during February 1997, this put the top deck out of action for nearly a month. The Leopard (ex Viking Trader) from the Larne to Fleetwood service provided a relief service during this time; with her internal ramp to the top deck she was able to carry full loads. All the other ferries on the service lacked an internal ramp and were only able to use their main decks. The European Endeavour was loaned to the Pandoro operations to cover the absence of the Leopard.

During her refit in August, the European Endeavour received similar alterations to her upper vehicle deck as the Pride of Rathlin the previous year. On her return from the Cammell Laird shipyard her upper vehicle deck now had a free height of 5 metres allowing up to 6 high headroom sailings per day in conjunction with the Pride of Rathlin. After the return of the European Endeavour the Belard which had covered on the route during the absence of the European Endeavour was returned to the Isle of Mann Steam Packet Company.

At the end of 1997, the entire P&O fleet on the Irish Sea was rebranded P&O Irish Sea and this brought the Larne to Cairnryan route under the same umbrella as the Pandoro operations from Larne to Fleetwood and Ardrossan. The new company was controlled from Fleetwood by John Kearsley, this brought the head office of the Cairnryan service a bit closer to the route than its previous base in Felixstowe. One of the first cost cutting measures of the new company was to reflag all the vessels to the Bahamas or Bermuda. This opened the floodgates to replacing the local British crews with Spanish crew, although the engineers and deck officers remained British for the time being. By the beginning of 1998, only the Pride of Rathlin remained a fully British manned vessel, while the Jetliner remained crewed by agency men.

As is usual with a highly contested ferry market when one operator makes an announcement of change a flurry of activity follows as the others all work to counteract the new threat. Such was the case in at the beginning of 1999, when Sea Containers announced the opening of a new route from Belfast to Troon. This was to operate at the expense of their Stranraer service, which was down graded to one trip per day, although eventually Sea Containers abandoned Stranraer completely. P&O immediately responded with the announcement that they were ordering a new 21000 ton ro-pax ferry for the Cairnryan route. This was to be the first purpose built ferry for the route and represented an investment of 33 million pounds. The new ferry was to have a service speed of 23 knots and had a capacity for 107 commercial vehicles; a significant improvement over the vessel she was due to replace, the Pride of Rathlin. The new ferry was ordered from the Mitsubishi yard in Japan and with her impressive service speed she would reduce conventional ferry journey time by half an hour to one and three quarter hours.

With the harmonisation of all the P&O routes out of Larne and the gradual expansion of the Scottish routes from Larne to Cairnryan and Ardrossan the year 1999 saw a slight restructuring of services. The Ardrossan service was to become a two ship service, the European Endeavour and European Trader alternating each weekday from their duties on the Cairnryan service. The Cairnryan ferry switched to the Ardrossan service during the day, taking a morning departure from Larne and an afternoon return from Ardrossan. The European Highlander from the Ardrossan service along with the European Navigator (ex Leopard) and the Merchant Venture from the Fleetwood service carried out extra sailings on the Cairnryan route increasing the capacity up to 10 return sailings a day.

The experiment with a two ship service to Ardrossan was relatively short lived and the three routes out of Larne returned to normality at the end of the year. The Cairnryan service reverted back to 9 round trips per day with the Pride of Rathlin, European Endeavour and European Trader. The route was in for more improvement when it was announced that the Jetliner was to be replaced by the catamaran Superstar Express for the summer of 2000. The Superstar Express had operated the previous two summers for P&O from Portsmouth and she had proved to be much more reliable than the Jetliner. The arrival of the Superstar Express on the route coincided with the opening of the new terminal facilities at Cairnryan. The new facilities were opened by the Scottish First Minister, Donald Dewer on the 17th of April 2000 and the Superstar Express entered service in place of the Jetliner the next day.

The Superstar Express at Larne

The new ship to replace the Pride of Rathlin was launched in Japan on the 20th of March 2000 and named European Causeway. After fitting out she set sail to Larne on the 15th of July, arriving on the 8th of August for trials. She entered service on the 14th of August in the company of the Pride of Rathlin and the European Navigator, which was on the route because the top deck ramp at Cairnryan was again out of action being modified for the new ship.

The Pride of Rathlin was finally retired on the 11th of September 2000 under the command of Morris Austin. She had given valuable service in her last couple of weeks covering for the Superstar Express, which was recalled to Portsmouth to cover the breakdown of the Portsmouth Express. The Rathlin left Larne after de-storing for the final time under the P&O flag on the 12th of September to lay up in Belfast. She was later bought by Indonesian owners, who renamed her BSP III and brought her back to Larne to load stores and fuel over the weekend 11th and 12th of November. She left Larne for good on the 13th of November 2000.

Despite her age and the over shadowing of her last couple of months at Larne by a damning report on safety by the AA (which was later discredited) she remained popular throughout her 8 years on the run. She helped bring the route up to modern standards of operation and provided a reliable and steady service, her only real mishap was a collision with a buoy in Larne over the winter of 1999/2000, which saw her holed just above the water line near the stern.

The Pride of Rathlin at Belfast awaiting her fate after her witdrawal from Larne on the 11th of September 2000.  Photo: Stephen Brown

So impressive was the Causeway’s performance during the short few months she was in service that a sister ship was ordered in December 2000, for delivery in time for the summer of 2002. In the meantime, some fleet restructuring after the introduction of the European Ambassador released the European Pathfinder from the Rosslare to Cherbourg service. After covering for refits in the Irish Sea fleet, the European Pathfinder entered service on the Larne to Cairnryan route in place of her sister, the European Trader on the 19th of April 2001. The European Trader, after a period of lay up in Belfast, was sold first to Taygran shipping for service in the North of Scotland and after their collapse she joined the former Pride of Ailsa in Egypt.

During the summer it was announced that the new ferry building in Japan was to be named European Highlander  (II). The named was freed up for the new ferry when the European Highlander (I), already in operation between Larne and Ardrossan, was renamed European Mariner during July 2001 to mark the relocation of the Ardrossan route to a new Scottish base at Troon.

In a surprise move and despite the imminent arrival of the new European Highlander the Superstar Express was brought back into service for the 2002 summer season under a newly negotiated charter agreement. The new agreement was directly between P&O Irish Sea and the owners of the vessel, cutting out the previous middlemen at P&O Portsmouth. The new terms were much more agreeable to P&O and the vessel commenced operations on the 15th of March 2002.

The first purpose built ship for the Cairnryan service, the European Causeway, sails out of Larne on her 1545 service to Cairnryan on 18/3/02.

The new European Highlander (II) arrived in Larne at the completion of her 26 day delivery voyage from Japan on the 26th of June.  Despite facing the brunt of the Indian monsoon, the Highlander came through it all unscathed and was praised for her sea keeping by her master, Jim McMullan.  After some berthing trials at both sides of the north channel the European Highlander entered service on the 3rd of July initially in place of her sister ship European Causeway which went for annual overhaul on the 5th to Harland and Wolff, Belfast.  The European Endeavour continued in service and the European Pathfinder coped as best as she could despite one of her engines failing just 2 weeks before the arrival of the new ship.  With repairs costing in the region of 200,000 pounds the Pathfinder limped on with one engine completing just one round trip per day (2130 ex Larne and return) and requiring a tug on stand by to help her berth.

With the European Causeway due back from refit on the 17th of July, the clock started ticking for the end of the Endeavour and Pathfinder.  They completed service in the early hours of Thursday the 18th of July when the new Cairnryan shuttle service came into operation with the European Causeway and European Highlander together providing departures from either port every 3 hours.  The European Pathfinder departed Larne for Liverpool at 0500 on the 19th, while the European Endeavour left Larne for a new career with Trans Europa Ferries of Ramsgate on the 20th of July.  Eventually after an initial sale to Greek owners fell through the European Pathfinder eventually found her way to Trans Europa Ferries joining the European Endeavour.

The European Endeavour passes the European Seafarer for the final time on 20th July 2002 for her new career with Trans Europa Ferries.

Updated: 18/02/05

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