Ben Lowry: Northern Ireland needs a car ferry route from Larne to the Scottish coast

The sudden sackings of P&O staff have struck a chord with people across the country.
P&O once ran one of the best boat services between anywhere in Ireland and Great Britain, the fast ferry from Larne to Cairnryan, which no longer exists. The Larne port route has been undermined by factors including the improved Holyhead journey to EnglandP&O once ran one of the best boat services between anywhere in Ireland and Great Britain, the fast ferry from Larne to Cairnryan, which no longer exists. The Larne port route has been undermined by factors including the improved Holyhead journey to England
P&O once ran one of the best boat services between anywhere in Ireland and Great Britain, the fast ferry from Larne to Cairnryan, which no longer exists. The Larne port route has been undermined by factors including the improved Holyhead journey to England

The distress and anger at the dismissals are well covered in this newspaper.

I want to write about another aspect of saga — the need for competition across the North Channel to Scotland, and the importance of the Larne-Cairnryan route.

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As someone who enjoys long distance driving, I have crossed by ferry numerous times from Northern Ireland or the Republic to Great Britain or even to France.

The are many different routes and many different vessels.

The most luxurious is a Brittany Ferries boat, the Pont Aven, which travels between Cork and Roscoff.

I have never been on a cruise but I imagine that it would be like that 22-hour crossing, on a liner with glorious restaurants (the French have high standards in food).

But one of the most important ferry services that has ever sailed from this island was operated by P&O.

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It was the fast ferry between Larne and Cairnryan, which took one hour.

It was, as far as I am aware, the fastest public boat service there has ever been between anywhere in Ireland and anywhere in Great Britain.

The service was, of course, more expensive than the slower ferries and so demand for it waned after the financial crisis of 2007/08.

The fast boat was scrapped.

I wonder if it will ever return, or if, like the way flights between London and New York got slower after the demise of Concorde, we will never see a similarly swift service.

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The route from Larne to Cairnryan is important for various reasons.

It is the shortest major sea-lane distance between Scotland and Northern Ireland.

It now has, at the local end, a dual carriageway or motorway the whole distance from Larne to Belfast (a road that was upgraded a few years ago as, ironically, ferry services at Larne seemed to dwindle).

And it brings boats into the middle of the eastern coast of Co Antrim, which is one of Ulster’s most populous counties.

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But the Larne route has been undermined by a number of factors including the Stena Line service from the northern outskirts of Belfast to Cairnryan, which is popular because it cuts out driving at the Northern Ireland end.

Also by the radical improvement of the Belfast to London via Holyhead route.

As recently as 25 years ago that journey was a tedious one by boat and car.

Now there is not only a motorway from Belfast to Dublin, but it ends in a tunnel that brings you straight to Dublin port.

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At the far end there is a high quality dual carriageway all through Anglesey and on towards England.

On the Scottish side of the North Channel, the A75 from Cairnryan and Stranraer to Dumfries and the English border is a twisting single carriageway that shows little sign of being upgraded in a significant way in the coming decades.

Taking a boat over to Scotland and driving on that road was once the obvious way to motor to England, but that journey now faces competition from more attractive options, notably the Holyhead route.

It is also important that travellers benefit from the lower fares caused by competition across the North Channel.

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Stena Line have invested in a good service to ports including Cairnryan but boat services between Scotland and Northern Ireland have long seemed much more pricey than comparable car ferries in places such as Canada.

If there was no competition, the situation would become even worse.

When there was fierce debate about the merits of a bridge or tunnel between NI and GB, I wrote here about how a bridge was a nice dream, but a distant one. Much better in the meantime to reinstate the P&O fast ferry and then upgrade the arduous A75.

Now the whole future and reputation of P&O is in doubt, let alone any prospect of a return to the fast ferry.

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We are all horrified by the thought of losing our jobs in the sudden and ruthless way that the P&O staff did.

If it does not provide a good and well-run ferry service from the natural port of Larne to Loch Ryan, then let us hope some other provider does — and that passengers use it enough for the route to remain viable.

Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter editor