''Pelagos'' is a

RoPax Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or usi ...

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

owned and operated by french shipping company La Méridionale. The vessel is named after a marine conservation area surrounding Corsica.

History

''Pelagos'' was built in October 1997 as the ''Lagan Viking'', entering service with

Norse Irish Ferries Norse Irish Ferries was an Irish Sea ferry company that operated a passenger and freight roll-on/roll-off service between Belfast and Liverpool. History Norse Irish Ferries was formed as a joint venture between the Norwegian Roed Group and a c ...

Belfast to Liverpool route. In February 2001, Cenargo, the owners of

Merchant Ferries A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

purchased Norse Irish Ferries. The two companies merged and operated together as

Norse Merchant Ferries Norse Merchant Ferries was an Irish Sea ferry company that operating passenger and freight RORO services between England the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. History Norse Merchant Ferries was created in October 1999 when Cenargo, ...

. Ahead of the arrival of a new larger vessel from Visentini with the same name to replace her on the Liverpool ro Belfast route, ''Lagan Viking'' was renamed ''Liverpool Viking'' in January 2005 in order to free up her name for the new ''

Lagan Viking MS ''Stena Scandica'' is a RoPax ferry, owned by Stena Line and it operates on the Baltic Sea between Nynäshamn, Sweden and Ventspils, Latvia. History ''Stena Scandica'' was built in July 2005, as ''Lagan Viking'', entering service with Norse ...

''. Following the arrival of her replacement, ''Liverpool Viking'' was redeployed to the former Merchant Ferries Dublin to Liverpool route. In November 2005 the Norse Merchant Group was acquired by

Maersk (), also known simply as Maersk (), is a Danish shipping company, active in ocean and inland freight transportation and associated services, such as supply chain management and port operation. Maersk was the largest container shipping line a ...

and integrated into

Norfolkline Norfolkline was a European ferry operator and logistics company owned by Maersk. It provided freight ferry services on the English channel, Irish Sea, and the North Sea; and passenger ferry services on the English channel and Irish Sea; and lo ...

. In July 2010 Norfolkline was acquired by

DFDS DFDS is a Danish international shipping and logistics company. It is the busiest shipping company of its kind in Northern Europe and one of the busiest in Europe. The company's name is an abbreviation of Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab (literally ...

. The vessel was renamed ''Liverpool Seaways'' during her refit in August 2010. In January 2011, DFDS announced that its

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

route was to end on 31 January, due to the sharp decline in demand since 2008. Following the closure of the Birkenhead - Dublin route, the ''Liverpool Seaways'' has been redeployed on

DFDS Seaways DFDS Seaways is a Danish shipping company that operates passenger and freight services across northern Europe. Following the acquisition of Norfolkline in 2010, DFDS restructured its other shipping divisions (DFDS Tor Line and DFDS Lisco) in ...

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

routes. On May 24, 2019 it was reported in the French media that ''Liverpool Seaways'' had been sold to La Méridionale.

Route

In February 2011 the ''Liverpool Seaways'' operated between

Klaipėda Klaipėda (; ; german: Memel; pl, Kłajpeda; russian: Клайпеда; sgs, Klaipieda) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. The capital of the eponymous county, it is the third largest city and the only major seaport in Lithuan ...

and

Karlshamn Karlshamn () is a locality and the seat of Karlshamn Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden. It had 13,576 inhabitants in 2015, out of 31,846 in the municipality. Karlshamn received a Royal Charter and city privileges in 1664, when King Charles X ...

for

. In 2015 it operated between

Paldiski Paldiski is a town and Baltic Sea port situated on the Pakri Peninsula of northwestern Estonia. Since 2017, it's the administrative centre of Lääne-Harju Parish of Harju County. Previously a village of Estonia-Swedes known by the historical ...

and

Kapellskär Kapellskär () is a port about north of Stockholm, in Sweden. It is located by the Baltic Sea, in Norrtälje Municipality, Stockholm County. Services The port is served by frequent passenger ferry services to Mariehamn, Åland, Finland, operated ...

Onboard facilities

The ship has several facilities on board such as restaurants, bars, shops, cabins and reclining seats

References

External links

DFDS Seaways website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelagos Ferries of the United Kingdom Ferries of Northern Ireland Ferries of Lithuania 1996 ships Ships built by Cantiere Navale Visentini Ships built in Italy