HSC Dublin Swift
Ex Westpac Express
© George Holland (28/05/2022)
Aluminium waterjet vessel built in 2001 by Austal Ships Pty. Ltd. (Yard No 130) as a High Speed, Light Craft – Passenger Carriage catamaran.
Technical Data
- Length: 101.40 m (overall) 85.2 m (between perpendiculars)
- Breadth: 26.65 m
- Depth: 9.4 m
- Draught: 4.3 m
- Tonnage: 8403 gross/2521 net/750 – 697t deadweight
- Engines: 4 x Caterpillar 3618 FMT diesels/4 x Rolls Royce KaMeWa 125 SII waterjets
- Power: 28800kW/HP
- Speed: 34.0 knots
- Capacity: 11 military – 12 civilian passengers/970 – 900 passengers/251 cars
- Call Sign: WDB5285, 5BXH4
- MMSI Number: 209192000
- IMO Number: 9243227
- DNV iD Number: G94932
- Port of Registry: Australia 🇦🇺, Panama 🇵🇦, U.S.A , Limassol/Cyprus 🇨🇾
- Sister Ship: Euroferrys Pacifica (114)
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Current AIS Location
History
August 18th 2000: Keel laid.
April 8th 2001: Launched.
© Austal Shipping
© Austal Shipping
© Austal Shipping
July 1st 2001: Delivered to Austal Ships Ltd, Henderson, Australia and chartered to US Marine Corps – the Third Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) for a proof of concept (POC) period of 10 years with code number – HSV-4676.
January 2002: Chartered by the Military Sealift Command (MSC) for three years.
May 1st 2002: Registered Owner: AAA Shipping No 1 LLC.
December 2004: Use for humanitarian aid after the tsunami in Thailand.
2005: The vessel was again chartered for a period of 55 months.
May 15th 2005 – May 26th 2006: Played an important role during the 25th Cobra Gold annual exercise held in Thailand. The exercise was participated in by the US, Thailand, Singapore, Japan and Indonesia.
© Raisuke Numata (Yokohama, 07/03/2009)
March 2011: Used in Japan as a support vessel after the tsunami (also called Great Sendai Earthquake or Great Tōhoku Earthquake).
December 2011: Charter extended by 3 years, The new charter was priced at approximately $30.3m if all options are put to use.
2014: Charter again extended by 3 years.
April 2016: Sold to Irish Continental group for delivery in January 2018.
January 2017: Taken over by Irish Continental group, Limassol, Cyprus.
December 4th 2017: Arrived Singapore.
December 15th 2017: Departed Jeddah for Suez
December 20th 2017: Arrived Valletta.
© Emmanuel L (Valletta, 20/12/2017)
December 26th 2017: Bunkered in Algeciras.
January 3rd 2018: Arrived Lisbon.
January 12th 2018: Left Bilbao.
January 13th 2018: Arrived Brest.
January 14th 2018: Called at Holyhead and arrived in Belfast.
© Luke Wilson (Belfast, 14/01/2018)
January 14th 2018: Arrived at Harland & Wolff for refit.
February 3rd 2018: Moved to the Cypriot flag from the US flag, having passed the relevant surveys while alongside the Ship Repair Quay (SRQ) in Belfast.
© Rossographer (Geograph)
March 1st 2018: Renamed DUBLIN SWIFT .
© Trevor Kidd (Belfast, 28/03/2018)
April 14th 2018: Left Belfast Harbour for sea trials, crew familiarisation etc.
April 20th 2018: Arrived at Holyhead Port or trials before commencing service.
April 27th 2018: Commenced service Dublin – Holyhead.
Oct 6th 2018: Last, seasonal, service then to be laid up at Harland & Wolff Belfast where new mezzanine car decks were to be fitted in order to increase her car capacity.
October 15th 2018: Arrived Curran Quay, Larne to load the new decks and then proceeded to Belfast.
© Trevor Kidd (Larne, 16/10/2018)
April 2019: Returned to service over the Easter Period
© Robbie Cox ( Dublin 29/05/2018)
May 2019: Went to dry dock at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead. Retractable Azimuth thrusters were added here in order to improve manoeuvrability. She then resumed service Dublin – Holyhead.
© Robbie Cox (Birkenhead, 24/06/2019)
August 31st 2019: After a season in which she suffered from many technical difficulties she made her crossing from Dublin at reduced speed to Holyhead, She was assisted on to the former HSS maintenance berth in the inner harbour and removed from the remainder of the seasons timetable.
February 26th 2020: Returned to Belfast ahead of entering Belfast Dry Dock later in the week.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting travel restrictions, laid up again at Liverpool.
© Luke Wilson (Repair Quay, 10/03/2020)
August 5th 2021: Returned to service. The first commercial sailing in nearly 2 years.
October 3rd 2021: Final seasonal service.
March 14th 2022: Resumed service Holyhead – Dublin.
© George Holland (28/05/2022)
© Robbie Cox (Dublin, 22/09/2022)
October 31st 2022: Her season concluded.
February 15th 2023: Entered Ship Repair Quay, Belfast.
© Luke Wilson (February 2023)
April 2th 2023: Refit berth Holyhead for repairs.
May 15th 2023: Resumed service Holyhead – Dublin
October 30th 2023: Came off service at Dublin and sailed to Cardiff.
October 31st 2023: Arrived Cardiff and laid up.
All information is believed to be correct and no responsibility is accepted for any errors or omissions. All items included in this article are subject to © copyright. We would like to take this opportunity of thanking: Austal Shipping, Ian Collard, Robbie Cox, Fotoflite, Robert Foy, George Holland, Trevor Kidd, Raisuke Numata, Luke Wilson and Andreas Wörteler for their assistance in producing this feature.
Article © Nigel Thornton and Ray Goodfellow (Dover Ferry Photos Group)
