IRISH CONTINENTAL GROUP PLC

Description

Irish Continental Group was founded in 1972 as an Irish/Scandinavian joint venture to provide a direct ferry link from Ireland to Continental Europe, which was inaugurated in 1973. The group was initially known as Irish Continental Line. In 1988, Irish Continental Line was acquired by a group of investors and was renamed as Irish Continental Group Plc with its listing on the Irish Stock Exchange. Today, the group is a customer focused leading Irish-based maritime transport group with principal activities like carrying passengers, cars, ship chartering activities, Roll-on, Roll-off (RoRo) freight and container Lift-on, Lift-off (LOLO) freight between Ireland, UK and Continental Europe and it also operates container terminals in the port of Dublin and Belfast. The group operates through its subsidiaries; Irish Ferries, Irish Ferries Freight, Eucon Shipping & Transport Ltd. Dublin Ferryport Terminals and BCT Belfast Container Terminal.

The group operates through two core divisions: Ferries Division and Container and terminal division. The Ferries Division is engaged in carrying Passengers and RoRo Freight between Ireland and UK and provides direct ferry services between Ireland and France and It operates in three routes utilizing a fleet of five vessels, four of which are owned, and one is chartered-in. These are W.B. Yeats, Ulysses, Isle of Inishmore Dublin Swift Epsilon (Chartered-in) and Blue Star 1 and these fleets are traded under the brand name of The Irish Ferries. Further, the division owns six passenger and container vessels, the MV Elbfeeder, MV Elbertrader, MV Elbcarrier and MV CT Rotterdam vessels are on year-long charter of Eucon, which is group’s shipping subsidiary and the other two vessels -- the Ranger and Thetis D are offered for charter to third party. It was awarded with the Best Ferry Company for 10^th year in a row in 2020 and Best Ferry or Fixed Link Operator’ for the second year running.

The Container and Terminal Division under the Eucon brand is engaged in LoLo shipping activities and principally operates two container terminals that are Dublin Ferryport terminal and Belfast container terminal within Ireland port. The Dublin Ferryport Terminal is strategically located near Dublin city center and Dublin port Tunnel, which provide access to Ireland’s motorway network and is the first operator in the new Dublin Inland Port, which is is expected to be operational by the end of 2021.

The facility comprises 480 meters of berths for container ships with a depth of 9 to 11 meters that covers over 32 acres of land and is also equipped with three modern Liebherr Gantry Cranes and 10 rubber-tyred gantries.  Belfast container Terminal division under a service concession agreement with Belfast Harbour Commissioners (BHC) operates the sole container terminal, which comprises of a 27-acre site with three ships to Shore gantry cranes and eight electrically operated gantry cranes.