Portaferry - Strangford Ferry

The Portaferry - Strangford ferry service crosses Strangford Lough at its narrow point close to where the lough joins the Irish Sea. The ferry links the two disconnected sections of the A2 road, Muff to Portaferry and Strangford to Newry. There has been a ferry service between Portaferry and Strangford for four centuries without a break. The alternative road journey is 47 miles while the ferry crosses the 0.6 nautical miles (0.69 mi) in 8 minutes.

Transport NI an executive agency of the Department for Infrastructure (Northern Ireland) operates the ferry service using two vessels, ‘MV Strangford II’ and ‘MV Portaferry II’. Ferries depart each terminal every 30 minutes and convey about 500,000 passengers per annum.

Vehicles and their drivers are carried for a fee with additional vehicle passengers or foot passengers also charged. Residents of Northern Ireland aged over 60 are entitled to free passage as are residents of the Republic of Ireland over 66 years of age. The subsidised public service operates at a loss of more than £1m per year but is viewed as an important transport link to the Ards Peninsula.

In 1611 James I granted land on either side of the Lough to Peirce Tumolton in order to maintain and crew a ferry boat. In 1835 a group of local people formed the “Portaferry and Strangford Steamboat Company” and commissioned the building of a forty ton paddle steamer “Lady of the Lake” the first steam ferry in Ireland. This venture was not commercially successful and the ferry was sold in 1839. In 1913 three passengers were lost when a ferry capsized. In 1947 a converted World War II landing craft in use as the ferry capsized, one man died. Various vessels were in use until 1969 when the Down District Council took over operation of a ferry capable of carrying vehicles and passengers

In 1975 the Welsh ferry “Cleddau King” was purchased after becoming redundant on the completion of the Cleddau Bridge. She was modified by shipbuilders Harland and Wolff of Belfast for the Portaferry to Strangford route and operated under the name MV Portaferry until sold in May 2002.

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Wikipedia