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News Update - Saturday 4th April
- Sail Agreed!* - on the Julia
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The Julia - in Kotka, Finland last week - she’s a big ship!
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The Finnish bank which currently owns the ferry Julia, agreed on Friday to sell the ship to our consortium.
West Cork Tourism chairman Conor Buckley said he hoped co-op members (who have raised nearly €3m in pledge investment to help purchase the ferry) will wholeheartedly ratify the sale agreement when they meet in Skibbereen on Tuesday night.
"We started raising money on February 12 and we’ve been in talks with the Finnish bank for the past three weeks. This is a huge milestone for us. There is a lot of excitement in our group," Mr Buckley said.
"We are currently preparing the necessary working capital. We are going to be launching the service in a difficult economic environment, but there is huge goodwill both here and in Britain for it."
The 28-year-old vessel, which was recently refitted, will have to undergo some minor alterations to comply with Irish maritime law – and it is hoped that she can start sailing between Swansea and Cork by June.
We are still accepting investment pledges (from €1,000 up to €10,000) – and the new online donation system welcomes smaller amounts of cash from supporters of our campaign.
Words by Adrian, Photos by Conor, *Bad puns by Paul
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