MS Isle of Inishmore


MS Isle of Inishmore is a ro-ro ferry owned by Irish Ferries and operated on their Rosslare-Pembroke service. At the time of her introduction, she was the largest car ferry operating in Northern Europe. She is named after Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands. The name of the ferry is tautologous, since "Inishmore" derives from the Irish for "big island".

Design and construction

Isle of Inishmore was constructed by Van der Giessen de Noord in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, at a cost of IR£60million. Construction commenced in December 1995, and the vessel was launched in October 1996. She was delivered to Dublin in February 1997, before entering service in March 1997.
Power is provided by four Sulzer diesel engines. Each round trip between Rosslare and Pembroke requires 25 tonnes of marine diesel oil.

Career

Isle of Inishmore began her career on Irish Ferries' Dublin-Holyhead route as the flagship of the company's fleet, replacing the 1995 built Isle of Innisfree. Following the introduction of the larger onto the route in March 2001, Isle of Inishmore was redeployed to the Rosslare-Pembroke route.

Incidents