Ferry across the Foyle

The Lough Foyle Ferry Company celebrated two years in business in June. Managing director Jim McClenaghan welcomed John Loughran aboard this trucker friendly operation.

The Lough Foyle Ferry company was established in June 2002

A ferry service existed between Greencastle in Co. Donegal and Magilligan in Co. Derry for many years up until the late 1960s. With the onset of theTroubles in the North and road closures on the Derry side of Lough Foyle, the service ran aground.

For the past decade or more residents on both sides of the Foyle pushed hard to have the ferry link reopened to stimulate cross-border trade, travel and tourism. After much campaigning and lobbying the International Fund for Ireland, Donegal County Council and Limavady Borough Council finally provided the infrastructure at Greencastle and Magilligan to facilitate the reopening of the ferry service.

The ferry service operates 263 days a year

Local businessmen Jim, Patrick and Adrian McClenaghan; Mick Gillen, Jack McInerney, Paddy and Mark Coyle, established the Foyle Ferry Company with a view to operating a ferry capable of carrying cars, buses and HGV traffic across the Foyle.
Having successfully tendered for the contract the company began operations in June 2002. Sailing 363 days a year, weather permitting, the service has been a roaring success. In its first two years of operation, the company has carried in excess of 700,000 people and 200,000 vehicles on its vessel Foyle Venture.
To date more than 2,000 hauliers have used the service, which shaves a whopping 78 km off the road journey between Greencastle and Magilligan.
“Our first vessel the Carrigaloe was smaller and we could only carry one lorry at a time. We replaced the Carrigaloe with the Foyle Venture in May 2003. We can now take three lorries at a time,” Jim revealed.

The Foyle Venture makes the one-mile crossing in just 10 minutes.
That translates into a sailing from each destination every 25 minutes or so, meaning intending motorists never have too long to wait. “The round trip takes about 25 minutes. There is practically no delay involved in embarking and disembarking,” Jim noted.

Upwards on 2,000 hauliers have used the service to date

To that end the Foyle Venture runs from early morning until late in the evening to facilitate its ever-expanding customer base. “The first sailing leaves Greencastle at 7.20am and the last sailing leaves Magilligan at 10.00pm from April until September. The rest of the year the last sailing leaves at 8.00pm,” Jim confirmed.

“The Foyle Venture has the capacity to hold 40 cars or up to a maximum of 130 tonnes at a time. We can accommodate three trucks at a time on the vessel. The service is gaining in popularity with truckers,” he revealed.

Jim continued: “The trucking side of the business is building slowly but surely. We recently recruited a marketing executive Kevin OConnor to develop that side of the business,” he revealed.
Bouyed by an influx of tourists, business reaches its peak during the summer months, when the Foyle Venture runs at full capacity. To that end the company is actively marketing its off-peak capacity, especially to the haulage community.

Jim revealed the benefits of the service. “Obviously there is a time saving because it only takes 10 or so minutes to make the crossing. For hauliers there is a considerable saving in terms of fuel, because it cuts almost 80kms off their journey.”

Frequency of crossings is another important selling point, according to Jim.”If a trucker misses the crossing, he knows there will be another in less than half an hour. A lot of truckers use that time to take a break and have something to eat while they are waiting,” he affirmed.

The fact that the Foyle Venture sails 363 days a year, excluding Christmas Day and St. Stephens Day is also another selling point. Add in reliability of service, and you are presented with a pungent recipe for success.

“Over the past two years we have developed a reputation for reliability,which is extremely important in this business. Through word of mouth the business is building all the time,” Jim enthused.
Employing a fulltime staff of 28 people the company is now a significant employer in the area. “The majority of the staff are ex-fishermen and are highly qualified. They know their jobs inside out. The quality of our staff is reflected in the quality of service we give to our customers,” he stated.

Such is the reliability of the service, truckers are now able to ring ahead for advise on sailing times from Magilligan or Greencastle. “We have a very good system in place where we can liase with our customers on sailing times.They can plan their schedule around that. It took us a while to get to that level of service, but it is now working extremely well,” he remarked.

The company also offers account facilities and volume discounts for regular HGV users. “We charge 32 for a tractor unit and trailer for a single crossing. For hauliers that use the service on a regular basis, we are offering 12 crossings for £255, which is a little over E21 per crossing. We are also doing a special deal for tractor units without a trailer,” Jim confirmed.

Indeed, HGV account customers are increasingly becoming an integral part of the company’s business. “Hauliers from all over the place are starting to use the service and opening up accounts to avail of the discounts,” he noted.

On the back of its Greencastle to Magilligan success, the Lough Foyle Ferry Company established a crossing between Buncrana and Rathmullen. “The Foyle Rambler came into service on May 28 on a pilot basis. It is three miles across and we are doing the round trip in an hour and 20 minutes,” he explained.

Starting from Buncrana at 9.00am in the morning the Foyle Rambler runs throughout the day. The last sailing leaves Rathmullen at 8.10pm every evening. “We didnt do any research, but we had a gut feeling that there would be a demand for the service. It has been exceptionally busy on the crossing since we opened at the end of May,” Jim commented.

We are ahead of target on the Buncrana to Rathmullen crossing. We will review it at the end of the summer, but at this stage we dont envisage that it will run all year round,” Jim concluded.