Our Service
Hibernia Line is developing a new Freight and Passenger direct ferry service between the Ringaskiddy, Cork and Boulogne-sur-Mer, in North-Eastern France, close to Calais and the Belgian border.
The primary emphasis of this service, is to give a better, sustainable connectivity to/from Ireland and to central mainland Europe for both fast moving essential freight and for tourist & business passengers. Giving direct unencumbered customs free access to central mainland Europe.
The service will operate 21 hour service departing Cork & BSM 21:30 each evening by operating 2 x RoPax Freight & Car passenger ferries to link the two strategic ports with 6 departures from each port per week..
Departure times are devised to maximise the accessibility of both Freight and Car passengers arriving at the ports after a days journey, allowing time for an evening on-board with refreshments before a night’s rest as they travel.
The structured evening arrival and departures, (as per the reserved berthing slots), will provide a frequent, scheduled and reliable service to cater for the many high value, time critical, fast moving freight imports and exports to and from the island of Ireland and mainland Europe, along with catering for the many tourist and business car & campervan travellers to and from Europe.
The route will utilise the Port of Boulogne-sur-Mer for its direct access to the fish Markets in Boulogne and for its proximity to the Belgian border and the Central European region of Benelux.
The route will also develop the underutilised freight & passenger terminal at the Port of Ringaskiddy just a short distance from Irelands second largest city and hub of high-end industry and easy access to the western cities of Limerick & Galway, along with immediate access to Ireland’s major tourist destinations of the Wild Atlantic way and Ireland’s ancient East. The route is planned to commence Q1 2026, as per ship availability, with the primary focus on the time critical, security sensitive, fast-moving goods.
Hibernia Line further plans to introduce two new sustainable purpose-built low emission ferries, to further reduce the Co2 emissions by over 66% from 2028.
Hibernia Line Limited is a Cork registered company and will hold head office in Ringaskiddy and expects to develop up to 100 positions from senior management, operations, bookings and administration staff on shore and up to 300 agency crewing of the vessels.
What We Will Offer
- Creating a new service, focused on high value, fast moving and time critical goods offering a high frequency service with a dependable 21-hour service schedule.
- Customer focused regular departure times, with ample capacity for freight and passengers.
- “One Driver – One Cabin” policy for all pre-booked freight truck & van drivers.
- Focus also on passenger traffic facilitating tourists, school tours, business travellers, migrants visiting home, in both directions, offering good facilities and cabins.
- Offering value for money without being cheap, provide a year-round service using freight and passenger traffic to complement each other’s peaks and troughs.
- Time charter in tonnage (i.e. with deck and engine crew) initially.
- Creating a management team of internationally experienced senior maritime people.
- Once established develop solution for introduction of, hyper efficient, low (zero) emission capable vessels.
- Customer focused port opening times (drop & collect trailers).
- Ensuring safe operations in our ports and ships.
- Offering Europe wide “Pay & Go” flexible booking system for ad-hoc travel for both freight and passengers.
Benefits to Ireland Inc. & Europe Inc.
- Frequent year-round scheduled Freight & Passenger service, operating 6 departures per week in each direction.
- Immediate reduced Carbon emissions, with further reductions for compliance with 2030 European emissions directive.
- Centred within Irelands top 4 Continental trading partners (France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany)
- 21-hour service to Central mainland Europe, creating more opportunities for direct trade and securing a regular sustainable supply chain.
- Exclusive dedicated Irish access to the 36-acre ferry terminal facility at Boulogne-sur-Mer
- Utilisation of a ferry Port facility at Ringaskiddy and reducing the risk of over reliance on just two East coast ports.
- A planned reduced CO2 direct ferry service to mainland Europe for all customers & clients.
- Have direct access to Europe’s largest Fish auction and processing region in Europe.
- Opportunities for growth and developing new high value industries such as Pharma and Life sciences.
- Further develop the tourist industry and increase direct access for overseas tourism for The Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland’s Ancient East.
- The benefit of more secure a direct supply chain and expanding the internal market sourcing of food, ingredients and Pharma products.
Why The Ports
Boulogne-Sur-Mer
The Hub Port Boulogne-sur-Mer is a 36-acre ferry port terminal facility, strategically located in North-Eastern France on the A16 Euro-route, 40 minutes from the Belgian border. It is now incorporated into the European TEN-T network.
The port has direct access to the largest fish auctions and the largest fresh fish processing facilities in Europe, processing over 330,000 tonnes of fresh fish annually, is easily accessible from Paris, Brussels, and the largest industrial and most populated region of Benelux and Western Germany.
Hibernia Line has secured the exclusive rights to operate the ferry terminal facility through a long-term lease arrangement. Hub Port Boulogne-sur-Mer was selected as Hibernia Line’s European hub due to its central location relative to a wide variety of European cities and distribution centres, as well as its existing infrastructure, which offers significant capacity for growth.
The port is owned by the Hauts-de-France Region and controlled by Port Boulogne Calais, both of which fully support Hibernia Line’s efforts to develop the terminal as an internal border facility connecting Ireland and France.
Ringaskiddy
Conveniently situated in near proximity to key areas of Irelands industrial heartland and tourist industry, being within 250km of Dublin, and just 108 km of Limerick, accessed via motorways.
It provides the most efficient route to market as it is located just 20 minutes from Cork city centre, as well as being less than 3 hours from Dublin and other major cities.
The port is well-served by the national road network with easy access to public transport & the Jack Lynch Tunnel along with the new M28 Motorway link, currently under construction.
The port is located within 30 minutes of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies, Computer manufacturing companies and Medical device companies among many other major industries.
Port of Cork, Ringaskiddy, was chosen as the Irish hub for Hibernia Line due to its central location, and regional diversity for Munsters growing Pharma and Digital devices, Fresh Fish and Dairy industries and ease of access to the tourist destinations of the Wild Atlantic Way & Ireland’s ancient East.