On 22 August 2023 P&O Ferries announced that it is to close the historic Liverpool-Dublin route at the end of the year, with an internal memo explaining the decision being widely circulated on social media.
The statement from Peter Hebblethwaite, CEO P&O Ferries, explained: “Earlier this year, the owner of our Liverpool site, Peel Ports, informed us that our current berth would no longer be available to us after the end of 2023.
“In recent weeks and months we have pursued every possible option to maintain our service on our Liverpool-Dublin route. This has included extensive negotiations and discussions with Peel, and exhaustive consideration of other options available to us.
“Despite our utmost efforts to find a viable solution, no suitable alternative has been offered or found that would enable us to maintain the current service into 2024.
“It is with great regret that I must therefore announce that we intend to close the Liverpool-Dublin service towards the end of this year.”
P&O Ferries ended its Hull-Zeebrugge route a couple of years ago, and now operates only three routes: Larne to Cairnryan, where the 50th year of operations was recently marked; Hull to Rotterdam; and Dover to Calais.
P&O Ferries’ intention is that Norbay and Norbank, which currently serve the Liverpool-Dublin route, will be redeployed elsewhere on the route network in the coming months.
Photo by Roy Cressey
