About Norsemerchant Ferries
NorseMerchant Ferries is a leading Ro-Ro/ferry operator on the Irish Sea. The company is headquartered in Liverpool and has presence in Northern Ireland, Great Britain and Republic of Ireland.
With a fleet of 9 vessels, NorseMerchant Ferries operate over 100 sailings per week on Belfast - Heysham, Belfast - Birkenhead, Dublin - Heysham and Dublin - Birkenhead routes.
The company has 450 employees and operates dedicated terminals in Belfast, Dublin and Birkenhead.
Norse Merchant Ferry Route Map
Brand new Italian NorseMerchant vessel makes first Irish Sea crossing
Lagan Viking, the first of two new state of the art Ro-Pax ferries, custom built for NorseMerchant Ferries’ Belfast - Birkenhead service, at the world famous Visentini Shipyard at Donada, just south of Venice, completes its first Irish Sea crossing arriving in Belfast this morning where she will undergo berthing trials at NorseMerchant Ferries’ VT2 Terminal.
Commenting on the arrival of the new vessel, Mr Phillip Shepherd, Managing Director, NorseMerchant Ferries stated: “We are delighted to welcome the Lagan Viking to Belfast, this new ship will greatly increase the passenger and freight capacity and set totally new standards on the Irish Sea trades thus consolidating NorseMerchant Ferries' position as a leading ferry operator.
According to Managing Director Phillip Shepherd, initial reaction to the vessel were extremely positive:
“The public areas are absolutely beautiful and as befits an Italian-built ship, full of style. Visentini’s long tradition of building passenger/freight ferries, including our two existing Belfast – Birkenhead ships, also shows itself in the level of attention to detail. From the design of the restaurant areas to the layout on the vehicle decks, the shipyard’s experience is evident.”
The first Lagan Viking passenger & freight sailing from Belfast - Birkenhead will take place tonight (Tuesday 19th July 2005), with a 10.30pm departure, passengers and drivers can look forward to an extremely high level of comfort on board the Lagan Viking with up to 480 passenger berths with ensuite cabins and a passenger capacity of almost double that of the existing ships. The public areas, which are all non-smoking, are spacious, modern and full of Italian style. The superb on-board facilities, including two bars, restaurant, new kiddies play area, quiet seating area and a comfortable cinema showing the very latest releases, as well as a new shop offering a wide range of gifts and fragrances.
Brand new NorseMerchant Vessel makes maiden journey into Birkenhead
Lagan Viking, the first of two new Ro-Pax ferries custom built for NorseMerchant Ferries’ Birkenhead - Belfast service, at the world famous Visentini Shipyard at Donada, just south of Venice, has completed its maiden journey into Birkenhead, Port of Liverpool today, where she will undergo berthing trials at NorseMerchant Ferries’ Twelve Quays Terminal.
Commenting on the arrival of the new vessel, Mr Phillip Shepherd, Managing Director, NorseMerchant Ferries stated: “We are delighted to welcome the Lagan Viking to Birkenhead, this new ship will greatly increase the passenger and freight capacity and set totally new standards on the Irish Sea thus consolidating NorseMerchant Ferries' position as a leading ferry operator.
The first Lagan Viking passenger & freight sailing from Birkenhead – Belfast will take place on Wednesday 20th July with a 10.30 am departure, passengers and drivers can look forward to an extremely high level of comfort on board the Lagan Viking with up to 480 passenger berths with ensuite cabins and a passenger capacity of almost double that of the existing ships. The public areas, which are all non-smoking, are spacious, modern and very chic as befits an Italian-built ship, full of style. The superb on-board facilities, including two bars, restaurant, new kiddies play area, quiet seating area and a comfortable cinema showing the very latest releases, as well as a new shop offering a wide range of gifts and fragrances.
NorseMerchant Is Setting The Standards In Safety And Security
As part of NorseMerchant’s commitment to enhancing the safety and security of visitors and residents of UK and Ireland, improvements are continuing to be implemented in the form of the requirement of photographic identification passes for travel. This will come into effect from the 1st September 2005.
All passengers aged 16 years or over are now required to have acceptable photographic identification in order to travel onboard all of the company’s vessels. Typically, a current photographic identification that was issued by some level of government will be sufficient. For example, driver's licenses, EU national identity cards, armed forces ID cards, citizen cards and valid passports are acceptable, but photo identification issued by a school or private employer are not acceptable.
Unfortunately travel will be refused if one of the above forms of identification is not shown.
Norfolkline Acquires Norse Merchant Group
Norfolkline, Scheveningen, The Netherlands - Wayzata, Minnesota, USA – 9 November 2005 Norfolkline and Wayzata Investment Partners (“Wayzata”) are pleased to announce that the acquisition of Norse Merchant Group Limited (“NMG”) and its subsidiaries has been completed. With the clearance obtained from Irish and British Competition Authorities, all conditions to the transaction are fulfilled.
Combining the expertise and market coverage of the two companies in the freight and passenger ferry industry will broaden and strengthen the service offering and create opportunities for our customers as well as for our employees.
Announcing the news, CEO of Norfolkline Group, Thomas Woldbye stated that: “We are very happy to have now completed this transaction and look forward to welcoming the Norse Merchant Group employees to Norfolkline and the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group. The acquisition of Norse Merchant Group firmly establishes Norfolkline’s commitment to the UK and Irish markets. It will provide multiple opportunities for our customers, including land bridging to and from the Continent via Norfolkline’s newly enhanced Cross Channel services.”
All activities of NorseMerchant Ferries will be integrated in the Norfolkline Ferry Division. Derek Sloan, NMG CEO, has decided to seek other opportunities and will resign, whilst NMG Managing Director, Phillip Shepherd will join the Norfolkline Management team as the Director of Irish Sea Ferry Services.
The integration is expected to be completed no later than April 2006 and until then NMG and Norfolkline Ferries will continue to operate under separate brand names. The two companies will eventually trade under the Norfolkline brand name.
The headquarters of the Norfolkline Group will remain in Scheveningen. The offices of Norse Merchant will remain as they are at present, there being no intention to reduce the number of offices currently involved in the Norse Merchant operations.
Wayzata, a fund manager based in Minnesota, USA, is the majority shareholder of NMG and led the disposition process on behalf of the shareholders. Wayzata is pleased with the successful outcome of its investment in Norse Merchant Group.
The parties have agreed not to disclose transaction details including price.
Further information can be obtained from:
Norfolkline
Thomas Woldbye
+31 (0)70 3527984
press@norfolkline.com
www.norfolkline.com Wayzata Investment Partners
Steven Adams
+1 952 345 0705
www.wayzatainvestmentpartners.com
About Norfolkline
Norfolkline is a leading, first class multimodal short sea carrier operating Ro-Ro/Ferry and container routes in North Europe, offering intermodal services between North and Southern Europe and logistics and distribution services for both dry and refrigerated products across Europe.
Norfolkline, headquartered in Scheveningen, has 35 offices in 13 countries with over 1,300 employees.Norfolkline is part of the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group, which has over 60,000 employees in more than 125 countries.
About Norfolkline Ferry Activities
Norfolkline Ferry Division engages both in Ro-Ro and Passenger services on the North Sea and the English Channel by operating 9 vessels and 5 different short sea routes. Norfolkline vessels make more than 190 departures each week on Felixstowe / Killingholme - Scheveningen, Dover - Dunkerque and Esbjerg - Immingham / Harwich routes. The division has over 400 employees in 8 offices.
The division has a dedicated terminal in Scheveningen and has recently announced its intention to move its terminal to Vlaardingen.
About NorseMerchant Ferries
NorseMerchant Ferries is a leading Ro-Ro/ferry operator on the Irish Sea. The company is headquartered in Liverpool and has presence in Northern Ireland, Great Britain and Republic of Ireland.
With a fleet of 9 vessels, NorseMerchant Ferries operate over 100 sailings per week on Belfast - Heysham, Belfast - Birkenhead, Dublin - Heysham and Dublin - Birkenhead routes.
The company has 450 employees and operates dedicated terminals in Belfast, Dublin and Birkenhead.
Norfolkline Group will have 39 offices in 13 countries with over 1,750 employees.
Norfolkline Ferry Division will:-
- Engage in freight and passenger ferry services on the Irish Sea, the North Sea and the English Channel
- Have more than 850 employees in 12 offices in 7 countries (Northern Ireland, Great Britain, Republic of Ireland, The Netherlands, France, Denmark, and Spain)
- Offer more than 300 sailings a week, operating 18 vessels on 9 different short sea routes:
Scheveningen - Killingholme, Scheveningen - Felixstowe, Dover - Dunkerque, Esbjerg - Immingham, Esbjerg - Harwich, Belfast - Heysham, Belfast - Birkenhead, Dublin - Heysham and Dublin - Birkenhead
- Have 3 new buildings on order
- Operate dedicated terminals in Scheveningen, Belfast, Dublin and Birkenhead.
Reserve your Norsemerchant ferry tickets online at ferries.org to enjoy exclusive online special offers and savings of on Norse Merchant ferry ticket prices.
