P&O Irish Sea

P&O Irish Sea

Fate	rebranded as P&O Ferries
Predecessor	P&O European Ferries
Founded	1998
Defunct	2010
Headquarters	Dover, England
Area served	Irish Sea
Services	Passenger transportation Freight transportation
Parent	P&O
Website	www.poirishsea.com
Footnotes / references P&O House Flag

P&O Irish Sea was the trading name of P&O Ferries in the Irish Sea from 1998 to 2010, when it was merged back into and rebranded P&O Ferries.

P&O Irish Sea was formed in 1998, following the merger of the Cairnryan-based service of P&O European Ferries (Felixstowe) Ltd and Pandoro Ltd (who operated routes between England, Scotland and France to Ireland).

In 1999, P&O Irish Sea announced its intentions to purchase a purpose-built Ro-Pax (roll-on, roll-off, vehicle/passenger) vessel from Mitsubishi of Japan for the Liverpool – Dublin route. This would see the transfer of the European Leader to the Fleetwood route.

In 2004, P&O closed its Fleetwood – Larne services with the sale of all interests. In addition to the service rights, European Leader, European Pioneer and European Seafarer were sold to the Swedish Stena Line group. At the same time, P&O announced the closure of the Mostyn – Dublin service due to low passenger numbers; this led to the sale of European Ambassador and European Envoy for further service in Europe. In 2005, the company withdrew from the Rosslare – Cherbourg route; this was taken over by a new company, Celtic Link Ferries, who also purchased European Diplomat.

In 2010, P&O Irish Sea was merged back into P&O Ferries and rebranded accordingly.

P&O Irish Sea operated many routes across the Irish Sea:

P&O Irish Sea operated a large fleet of vessels during its twelve years in operation.

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