MV W.B. Yeats

The ship, at the time unnamed, was ordered from German shipbuilder Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft in May 2016 at a cost of €144 million.[2] At the time of the order, the vessel was planned to enter service in May 2018.[2] Her keel was laid in September 2017, by which time the expected delivery had slipped to July 2018.[3] In October, her name was announced to be W.B. Yeats, chosen in an online competition.[4]

W.B. Yeats' hull was launched on 19 January 2018, but delays during the fitting out process led to Irish Ferries delaying her entry into service first to late July, then to September.[5][6] In August, The Irish Times reported that her delivery would likely not take place until October,[7] but work was further delayed and she did not begin sea trials until late in the month.[8] Irish Ferries eventually took delivery of the ship on 12 December 2018.[9] She arrived in Ireland on 20 December 2018.[10] W.B. Yeats made her much delayed first commercial sailing on 22 January 2019 when she struck the berth attempting to dock at Holyhead leaving a dent in the ship and bending the ramp in the impact delaying the offloading by some time and forcing Irish Ferries to put the booked passengers on the Stena sailing to Dublin,[11] just over a year after her hull was launched.

W.B. Yeats measures 54,985 gross tonnes, with a length of 194.8 metres (639 ft) and a beam of 31.6 metres (104 ft).[12][13] She has a total capacity of 1,885 passengers and crew, with 435 individual passenger cabins.[2] Her vehicle deck has an area of about 3,500 lane meters, giving her a maximum capacity of 1,216 cars or 165 trucks.[14] She is powered by four Caterpillar 8M43(C)[11] Diesel engines with a total power output of 33,600 kilowatts (45,100 hp) that can propel her at up to 22.5 knots (25.9 mph).[14] Passenger facilities are spread out over four decks, with decks 8 and 9 containing nothing but cabins and the public facilities housed on decks 10 and 11.[11]