MV ''Isle of Inisheer'' is a RoPax ferry owned by

Irish Continental Group Irish Continental Group plc is an Irish shipping and transport group. Operating roll on/roll off passenger, freight and container freight services on routes between Ireland, the United Kingdom and Continental Europe. Irish Continental Group al ...

and operated by

Irish Ferries Irish Ferries is an Irish ferry and transport company that operates passenger and freight services on routes between Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, including Dublin Port–Holyhead; Rosslare Europort to Pembroke as well as Dublin Po ...

History

Merchant Ferries

The ''Inisheer'' was built in 2000 as the ''Northern Merchant'' by Astilleros Españoles S.A. in Seville, Spain for Merchant Ferries and was supposed originally to operate in the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

, likely between

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

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 ...

. However, the merger of Merchant Ferries 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 ...

forming

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, ...

caused the newly formed company to have excess capacity.

Norfolkline

As a result, the ''Northern Merchant'' instead was chartered to

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 ...

for their Dover-Dunkerque service. Through her time with Norfolkline, she gradually gained several modifications, most notably a cow-catcher and sliding bows instead of the typical ramps, and twin-level loading. She was replaced on the Dover-Dunkerque service in March 2006 after the newbuild ''Maersk Delft'' entered service. Following her phase-out, she was dry-docked, repainted and modified back to vanilla configuration, removing the cow-catchers, sliding doors and twin-level loading, and returning the ramps on both the bow and stern.

Acciona Trasmediterránea

Afterwards, she entered service with

Acciona Trasmediterránea Acciona, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational conglomerate dedicated to the development and management of infrastructure (construction, water, industrial and services) and renewable energy. The company, via subsidiary Acciona Energy, produces 21 te ...

in May. She was temporarily renamed ''Murillo Dos'', and shortly afterwards renamed the ''Zurbaran''. The name lasted until 2019, when she was renamed ''Ciudad de Mahón'', alongside obtaining a new paint job.

Irish Ferries

In November 2021, it was announced that the ''Ciudad de Mahón'' was acquired by

, and was due to return to Dover on the Dover-Calais sailing in Q1 2022. She sailed her last sailing for Trasmediterránea on January 31, 2022. The next day, ownership was transferred and she was renamed ''Isle of Inisheer''. A week later, she departed Barcelona for the Fayard A/S shipyard next to

Munkebo Munkebo is a town in central Denmark, located in Kerteminde Municipality in the Region of Southern Denmark on the island of Funen. It was also the site of the municipal council of the abolished Munkebo Municipality. The town had a population of 5 ...

, near

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

in Denmark for re-installation of cow-catchers, sliding doors and other necessary modifications for operation into and out of Dover.

References