History

Irish Continental Group was formed (as Irish Continental Line) as an Irish/Scandinavian joint venture in 1972 in order to provide a direct ferry link from Ireland to Continental Europe. This link was inaugurated in 1973 with the then newly-built St. Patrick on the route between Rosslare and Le Havre.

From 1973 ICG prospered and increased substantially the scale of its operations as Ireland's tourism industry developed. In 1988 ICG was floated on the Irish Stock Exchange (followed in 1993 by a listing on the London Stock Exchange).

In 1992 the Group further increased the scale of its operations through the acquisition of B&I Line, then owned by the Irish Government. This broadened the Group's activities to include the short sea links with the United Kingdom, Ireland 's largest trading partner, and also extended the Group's operations into container transport and port operations.

Since 2000 the group has invested over €400 million in new vessels, port infrastructure and acquisitions and the group is now the leading Irish marine transport operator.