Irish Ferries has warned of further restrictions, during September and October, due to further repair work at Holyhead port in Wales.
Damage caused by Storm Darragh, last December, led to the closure of Holyhead for repair work and major disruption to ferry services for most of the first half of this year.
However, while more restrictions are on the way, Irish Ferries said it still expects to continue operating a full ferry service between Ireland and Holyhead, albeit on a modified timetable.
Speaking, this week, on the back of Irish Ferries’ parent company, Irish Continental Group’s (ICG) half-year financial results, ICG chairman, John B. McGuckian, said: “Despite a difficult start, HY 2025 has been a successful period for the Group. The closure of Holyhead Port in December 2024 negatively impacted volumes in the Ferries Division at the beginning of 2025.
“However, following its partial reopening during January of this year, we have seen a return to more normalised volumes without RoRo carryings to 30 June up 2.2%. Car volumes to 30 June were 4.4% behind the prior period, however this is mainly due to a reduction in sailings on the Dover – Calais route and the Holyhead disruption. While we welcome the partial reopening of Holyhead Port, the risk remains of delays to its full reopening. Completion of repairs by the port owner will require further operational restrictions during September and October of this year and in Q1 2026, though it is expected that full services will operate on a modified timetable.“
In terms of the financial results, Irish Continental Group – which also covers freight services and shipping terminal businesses – reported a revenue increase of 8.5% to €309.9m for the six months to the end of June, compared to €285.5m in the same period last year.
Operating profit surged by 41.4% to €24.6m. Profit before tax increased by 40.4% to €20.5m.
Irish Ferries, itself, saw a 4.3% year-on-year jump in revenue to €206m and a 48.4% jump in operating profit to €14.1m.
