Cork-Swansea ferry service faces collapse

The Cork to Swansea ferry service was on the brink of collapse last night after last-ditch talks to secure over €1m in investment failed.

The service, which is worth about €30m to the South-West, now needs a miracle to survive, a source close to the talks said last night.

The examiner appointed to Fastnet Line, which operates the service on behalf of the West Cork Tourism Cooperative Society, is expected to tell the High Court this morning that the company has been unable to secure the investment it needs to survive.

It secured €300,000 in investment from Cork’s two local authorities on Monday.

The examiner, who was due in court on Tuesday, gave the company two days to negotiate further investment from Enterprise Ireland and Finance Wales.

It was hoped that Enterprise Ireland would invest €400,000 and Finance Wales would plough €800,000 into the service. The company’s talks with Enterprise Ireland continued late last night but ended without success.

It is understood the investment agency cited concerns about state-aid rules as one of its reasons for not investing. When it became clear that the Irish agency was not investing, Finance Wales pulled the plug.

Pending the emergence of a last-minute investor, the service looks set to collapse.

Mayor of Cork County, Cllr Tim Mayor, said last night: “If the news is as expected, then it will be devastating, just absolutely devastating, for the region and for tourism in particular.”

Frustrated by a lack of state support, a group of business and tourist interests across Cork and Kerry formed a co-op, raised finance through a shares issue and bought the MV Julia vessel in Finland in 2008.

Dubbed the “people’s ship”, the 154m MV Julia began plying the Cork to Swansea route in March 2010.

It carried a total of 153,000 passengers before Fastnet Line was placed in examinership late last year.