GNV Allegra (as Irish Ferries’ Oscar Wilde) | GNV

Overview of GNV Allegra

GNV ALLEGRA is a passenger and vehicle operated by GNV (Grandi Navi Veloci). She was previously Irish Ferries OSCAR WILDE, for whom she normally operated on their Rosslare to France routes. She also provided cover on Irish Ferries Dublin to Holyhead and Rosslare to Prembroke Dock routes when required, such as for covering refits.

During December 2018, Irish Ferries announced that they were unlikely to operate any sailings to France from Rosslare in 2019. It was reported separately in the French media (link in French) that OSCAR WILDE was now for sale, confirming months of speculation that this was the case. On May 2nd 2019, OSCAR WILDE left Belfast for Italy following her sale to MSC. Following repainting she was renamed GNV ALLEGRA for the Genoa – Olbia route. GNV ALLEGRA was originally built for Colour Line predecessor Jahre Line as KRONPRINS HARALD (iii).

Technical Data (as Oscar Wilde)

The following technical info is given for when the vessel was in Irish Ferries service named OSCAR WILDE unless otherwise stated, and may have changed during subsequent ownership.

Name	OSCAR WILDE (now GNV ALLEGRA)
IMO Number	8506311
MMSI number	308847000
Design	Wärtsilä Marine Elomatic (subsequently became Deltamarin following a management buy-out)
Building Yard	Wärtsilä / Wärtsilä Marine Perno, Turku, Finland (later known as Kvaerner-Masa, Aker Yards, STX Finland.  Presently known as Meyer Turku)
Hull Number	1292
Keel Laid	18.12.1985
Launched	31.08.1986
Year Completed	1987
Delivery date	23/03/1987
In service [Original]	26/03/1987
In service [Irish Ferries]	30/11/2007 (Rosslare – Cherbourg)
Original Interior design	Hans Sabert, HSI (Germany) & Gabriel Finne, Finne Architects (Norway) [Finne Architects is now Falkum Hansen]
Call Sign	C6WL9
Classification	Lloyds Register of Shipping 100A1 Passenger and vehicle ferry Ice Class 1B at a draught of 6.7m LMC UMS (Previously classed by DNV until 02/2010)
Length overall (between perpendiculars)	166.3m (150m)
Beam	28.41m
Depth	14.1m
Draft	6.5m
Gross Tonnage (Irish Ferries)	31,914
Dead-weight	4,606
Total Number of decks	11
Passenger Decks	4
Vehicle Decks	2
Machinery	Two Wärtsilä-Sulzer 12 ZAV 40 (6,600 kW each) and two Wärtsilä-Sulzer 6 ZAL 40 (3,300 kW each) marine Diesel engines. These are placed in pairs In a father-son arrangement. Two controllable pitch propellers, each driven through a two input one output reduction gearbox Two transverse bow thrusters
Power(Max)	19,800kW
Operational speed	21.5 kts
Passenger Capacity (Irish Ferries)	1,458
Cabin Berths	1,376
Vehicle Capacity	1,220 lane metres 62 freight vehicles can be accommodated on deck 3, and approximately 250 cars and vans on deck 4. No HGV’s can be carried on deck 4.   Irish Ferries states that Oscar Wilde can carry up to 580 cars (if no freight carried).  20 reefer points are available. Vehicles are accommodated on decks 3 and 4. Deck 3 is accessed directly via the bow and stern doors, and deck 4 accessed from deck 3 via an internal ramp. Max clearance is 4.55m
Crew	–
On-board Facilities (Irish Ferries)	The Left Bank Brasserie The Steakhouse The Berneval Waiter Service Restaurant Café Lafayette Oscar’s Piano Bar The Gaiety Lounge (entertainment lounge/bar)Cinema De Cannes Hair and Beauty Salon The Merrion Lounge Aelia Onboard Shopping Reserved seating Surfbox – internet at sea Free Wifi A choice of passenger cabins See deck plan below for the layout of these facilities
Flag (GNV)	Italy (Genova) [Changed from Cyprus during May ’19]
Flag (Irish Ferries)	Nassau (The Bahamas) [Changed to Limassol (Cyprus) on 30.04.19 after sale]

Irish Ferries Deck plan

A Brief History of Kronprins Harald / Oscar Wilde

Early Years

OSCAR WILDE was designed and built by Wärtsilä’s Perno yard (Now Meyer Turku) in 1987 as KRONPRINS HARALD (iii) for Norwegian operator Jahre Line’s Oslo to Kiel route, a crossing which would take her 19.5 hours.  She later passed to Color Line when Jahre Line was merged with Norway Line to form that company.  

Her original interior layout and styling borrowed heavily from Viking Line’s sisters MARIELLA and OLYMPIA (now PRINCESS ANASTASIA, formerly PRIDE OF BILBAO), also built at the same yard. This was split into first and second class passenger spaces rather than the single-class layout of the Viking Line ships, however.

Irish Ferries Purchase and Rebuild

Irish Ferries purchased KRONPRINS HARALD in 2007, renaming her OSCAR WILDE after the Irish author and playwright of the same name.  Although purchased for €45m in January of 2007, KRONPRINS HARALD remained in service for Color Line under a charter arrangement until the arrival of her replacement COLOR MAGIC, then the largest cruise ferry in the world, in September that year. Irish Ferries parent Irish Continental Group had previous experience with Wartsila-built ferries, having previously owned PRIDE OF BILBAO which they had chartered to P&O for their Portsmouth to Bilbao route.

When her Color Line service was finished, KRONPRINS HARALD arrived at the Fredericia Skibsværft A/S shipyard in Munkebo (Fredericia), Denmark for rebuilding for Irish Ferries use on 4th September that year.  At the time Irish Ferries said in a press release (09/10/07):

“This work will include the construction of two new state of the art 55-seat cinemas, the restyling of restaurants, bistros, lounge bars, children’s play areas and other passenger facilities in themes that will reflect the link with Oscar Wilde, including a major upgrade to the main restaurant – the Left Bank Brasserie, and the fitting of an extra bow thruster for improved manoeuvrability,

Other items include the fitting out of a new hair & beauty salon, revamping of the main reception area, the provision of 130 new reclining seats, the fitting of new passenger information signs and the re-branding of the vessel in Irish Ferries livery.”

On the technical side, in addition to the fitting of a second bow thruster to improve manoeuvrability in port, Irish Ferries also invested in the upgrade of the smoke alarm systems and an overhaul of the sprinkler system.  In total the rebuild/refit took over 2 months to complete, with the now renamed OSCAR WILDE only leaving Fredericia for Ireland (stopping for berthing trials at Cherbourg, Roscoff, and Pembroke Dock on the way) in mid-November.  The total cost of acquiring and improving the vessel represented an investment of some €50m by Irish Ferries owners Irish Continental Group.

Ireland to France (and Wales)

The newly named OSCAR WILDE made her first commercial crossing for Irish Ferries on 30th November 2007 at 16:00.  Coincidentally this was 107 years to the day since the death of Oscar Wilde in Paris.  Flying the flag of the Bahamas, she replaced the older and smaller NORMANDY (as-built a sister to Stena Line’s STENA EUROPE), which was offered for sale.  

As well as offering superior passenger facilities to her predecessor, OSCAR WILDE could also carry 40% more passenger vehicles and 62 freight units instead of the 43 of NORMANDY.

Familiar Colours

Despite her thorough refit OSCAR WILDE arrived still wearing the blue hull of Color Line rather than the usual Irish Ferries all-over white livery.  This is said by some to be in order to disguise the appearance of rust streaking and other wear and tear to the hull which results from operating on what can be quite a rough and unforgiving crossing.  However, no official reason appears to have ever been given for her different livery to the rest of the fleet.  

Throughout her Irish Ferries career she retained this unique livery of a blue hull and white funnel despite appearing with a white hull in some publicity materials.  While some have speculated that the blue hull was retained as a cost-saving measure, her hull has been taken back to bare metal and totally repainted since her arrival in Irish waters.

Recent history

On 5th February 2016 OSCAR WILDE arrived at Belfast’s Harland & Wolf for refit and dry-docking, having previously been scheduled to go to A&P Falmouth instead.  Due to an industrial accident onboard ULYSSES which resulted in a fatality and subsequent investigation, the dry-dock in Falmouth was no longer available to accommodate OSCAR WILDE, and so she was booked into Harland & Wolff instead.

From 2018, Irish Ferries intend to operate their Rosslare to France sailings on a seasonal basis only. This will entail OSCAR WILDE being laid up for winter.  However, due to the delayed delivery of W.B. YEATS, it is currently expected that OSCAR WILDE will act as secondship on the Dublin – Holyhead route until the arrival of the new vessel should she be delayed further.  This will release EPSILON to operate a week-round Dublin – Cherbourg route as previously planned.

During December 2018, Irish Ferries announced that they did not expect to operate any sailings on OSCAR WILDE‘s normal routes between Rosslare and France. This was a change to the previously stated intention to run a seasonal service from March, and followed delays in releasing the 2019 timetable. French media confirmed that the port agreement at Roscoff had been terminated and that OSCAR WILDE was for sale. By this stage, rumours had already surfaced stating that an agreement was in place to sell the vessel once W.B. YEATS was successfully in service.

Sale to GNV

On Thursday April 11, Irish Continental Group announced that OSCAR WILDE had been sold to MSC. At the time the vessel was in dry dock at Harland & Wolff having arrived there earlier in the month. On April 30th her homeport was changed to Limassol (Cyprus). OSCAR WILDE left Belfast (and the Island of Ireland) for the last time on the afternoon of May 2nd with a destination of Genoa, still in (her unique) full Irish Ferries livery.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByO09S-omdt/?igshid=1x4tg2n76c934

On May 15th NI Ferry Site revealed that she would be renamed GNV ALLEGRA after repainting into GNV colours before entering service on the Genoa – Olbia route on May 25th.

Trivia

• The order of KRONPRINS HARALD was placed on the year of Jahre Line’s 25th anniversary, 1986. Four years later the company name would disappear, with Jahre Line merging with Norway Line to form Color Line.  Today Color Line serves Norway, Denmark, Germany, and Sweden.
• The hull form of KRONPRINS HARALD featured a new form of twin-skeg stern devised by Wärtsilä’s Finnish Naval Architect Markku Kanerva to reduce fuel consumption.  This design was so successful, that the hull form of KRONPRINS HARALD formed the basis of the hull design of Brittany Ferries’ NORMANDIE and Trasmediterránea’s JUAN J SISTER, amongst others. This efficient hull design helped KRONPRINS HARALD consume the same amount of fuel as the vessel she replaced, despite being twice the size.
• Between 1993 and 2010, Irish Continental Group owned the former OLYMPIA, a vessel OSCAR WILDE‘s as-built layout was heavily influenced by.  She never entered service for Irish Ferries though, and instead she was chartered to P&O European Ferries who operated her primarily between Portsmouth and Bilbao as PRIDE OF BILBAO.  She is currently St Peter Line’s PRINCESS ANASTASIA.
• Throughout her 11+ year career with Irish Ferries, OSCAR WILDE wore a unique livery with blue hull while the rest of the Irish Ferries fleet had white hulls. While some speculated that this was because she was never fully repainted and had retained her hull paint from her Color Line days, she was stripped back to bare metal on at least one occasion as an Irish Ferries vessel proving that theory void. A similar livery, but with a green funnel, was implemented on BLUE STAR 1 when she was chartered by Irish Ferries.
• One of GNV ALLEGRA‘s current fleet-mates is SNAV ADRIATICO. As Stena Line’s KONINGIN BEATRIX she also served Rosslare, as the regular Rosslare – Fishguard ship before she was replaced by STENA EUROPE.

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References

Internet Sources

https://trid.trb.org/view/430216

Books and other publications

Id, K., & Peter, B. (2017). Innovation and Specialisation: The Story of Shipbuilding in Finland.Copenhagen: Nautilus Forlag.

Irish Ferries Press Releases dated 09/10/2007 & 30/11/2007

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The above article is Copyright © Steven Tarbox, all rights reserved.  Unauthorised reproduction or distribution is strictly prohibited.  All images are Copyright © of their credited copyright holder unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Original Article Published: 08/02/2016
Updated with technical info and partially rewritten 28-30/06/2018
Text Last Updated: 25.12.2021
(Re-formatted 05.11.19 / 10.11.20 and converted to AMP 25.12.2921)