Subsidiaries:

~ The Belfast Steamship Company Ltd ~

~ The British & Irish Steam Packet Company Ltd ~

~ The City of Cork Steam Packet Company Ltd ~

~ The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company Ltd ~

~ Burns & Laird Lines Ltd ~

Coast Lines era (1913 – 1974):

Coast Lines was formed in 1913 from the merger of three Liverpool coaster companies. Through a series of takeovers, it grew to be the largest coaster company in the world, though largely based around the West Coast of Britain until after the Second World War. Through much of the period of its existence, coastal trading was is decline, which made the group's many takeovers easier to arrange. At its peak, it dominated west coast trading, running most of the area's ferry routes, apart from those of the powerful railway companies and to the Isle of Man.

In 1917, Coast Lines was acquired by Lord Kylsant's Royal Mail Steam Packet group, remaining with them until the group's collapse in early 1930s. The break-up of the Kylsant empire was slow, and it was not until 1935 that Coast Lines regained independence. It was during this Kylsant period that many of the main acquisitions were made, including Belfast SS, Burns & Laird, British & Irish and a half interest in David MacBrayne. Also during this period, the Coast Lines received the first of thirteen passenger motorships, the first of which shared the 'standard' Kylsant outline with two small funnels. This outline was applied to ships varying in size from the 696ton Lochfyne (david MacBrayne) to the 27000ton White Star Line Britannic.

Whilst pioneering unit load traffic in the post-war period, it failed to embrace vehicle ferries and went into a steady decline. British & Irish (including the associated City of Cork company) was bought by the Irish Government in 1965. It was then marketed as British & Irish Motorway. However sadly traffic declined during the period of the Troubles and the B & I company was eventually taken over by Irish Continental Line in 1991. In 1995 the operations of Irish Continental Line and B&I merged to form Irish Ferries.

The remainder of Coast Lines was purchased by P&O in 1971, who had owned the dominant East Coast equivalent, the General Steam Navigation, since the 1920s.

PANDORO era (1974 – 1999):

The Pandoro part of P&O European Ferries (Irish Sea) can trace its history back to 1974. The name is a clever acronym of P AND O RO (i.e. roll on). Seeking to increase its road haulage and freight interests, P&O had purchased the well-established Coast Lines (who were at this time 26% share holders in North Sea Ferries) in 1971 and in the following year the Group reorganised its 120 subsidiaries which were absorbed into five new divisions.

Long established names such as Coast Lines, its subsidiary the Belfast Steamship Company (operating the overnight Liverpool - Belfast link with the new car ferries Ulster Prince and Ulster Queen) and Burns & Laird (operators of the Lion on the daylight Ardrossan - Belfast route) disappeared and the operating title of P&O Ferries (Irish Sea Services) was adopted.

In 1972 the formation of Ferrymasters (Ireland) Ltd. (the parent company of which Coast lines owned an interest) soon saw a new service operating between Fleetwood and Larne which commenced operation in June 1973. In the following November the British Transport Docks Board started work on a ro-ro terminal at the Lancashire port and in 1974 P&O purchased the new ro-ro vessels Bison and Buffalo from Stena Line for £8 million. A further £1.25 million was invested in ro-ro units to be used in connection with the new ships.

Then in December 1974 they founded Pandoro providing a local transport operation for shippers to Ireland into which Ferrymasters (Ireland) was absorbed. In addition to the new service to Larne, one of the ships also served Dublin in a new joint venture with the British & Irish Steam Packet Co. (B+I). The Bison was first in service in February 1975, actually operating her maiden voyage from the Royal Seaforth Dock in Liverpool, while the Buffalo followed in March.

The ro-ro trade expanded rapidly at a time when the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland were having a profound effect on the tourist and passenger/car market. Smaller, less profitable services were soon axed as the new Pandoro services went from strength to strength and services to and from Garston, Preston, Warrenpoint, Newry and Londonderry were all closed.

P&O unveiled their 'new image' in October 1975 when the Belfast Steamship Co. and Burns & Laird Lines became P&O Ferries (Irish Sea Services) and the Ulster Queen and Ulster Prince were duly painted in their pale blue livery.

The Lion was withdrawn from service at Ardrossan in February 1976 after which she was sent to the Dover Strait to commence a new Normandy Ferries link with Boulogne.

The long-established overnight Liverpool - Belfast route was finally withdrawn in November 1981 with losses estimated at £1 million after which the 'Ulster'boats were laid-up pending sale in Ostend.

Meanwhile at Liverpool, Pandoro built a ramp and terminal at the North West Alexandra Dock and chartered then purchased the four year old Union Melbourne which, after stretching, eventually became the Puma. This proved so successful that the Bison and the Buffalo received similar extensions in 1981 and 1988. Further increases in freight saw the Bison receive an extra deck in 1995 while three years later the Buffalo was given hers.

Further large ro-ro vessels to join Pandoro have been the Ibex which was built in 1979 after which she was chartered to North Sea Ferries between 1980 and 1995 during which time she was named firstly Norsea and then Norsky before returning to the Liverpool - Dublin service under her original name. She too received an extra deck in 1996.

The Viking Trader was built for Stena Line in 1977 but was taken on charter by P&O European Ferries (Portsmouth) Ltd. in 1983 at which time she adopted a familiar 'Viking' name. She was transferred to Pandoro in 1989 and eventually renamed the Leopard for the Fleetwood - Dublin route.

In 1993, Pandoro inaugurated a new service linking Rosslare with Cherbourg and acquired the former Dover - Zeebrugge freighter European Clearway in order to operate the link. Replaced at Dover by new tonnage, the ‘Clearway’ had been transferred to Portsmouth - Le Havre in 1992 before her ‘sale’ to P&O Group partners. In January 1996 the vessel was renamed Panther. The Ardrossan - Larne link received the services of the 1978-built Merchant Valiant in 1993. Two years later she was purchased and renamed the Lion.

P&O Irish Sea era (1999 – present):

During late 1997 and early 1998, in preparation of the formation of P&O European Ferries (Irish Sea), the entire Pandoro fleet was renamed thus:

Bison              >          European Pioneer
Buffalo            >          European Leader
Ibex                 >          European Envoy
Leopard         >          European Navigator
Lion                 >          European Highlander
Panther           >          European Pathfinder
Puma              >          European Seafarer

New tonnage was announced in 1999 when a £33 million ro-pax was ordered from Mitsubishi of Japan for the Liverpool - Dublin route for delivery early in 2001. The vessel will see the transfer of the European Leader to the Fleetwood station and further orders of this type could well be forthcoming as the company try to expand the passenger/tourist car market on the Dublin route and earlier vessels become due for replacement.

Following the early successes of the fast ferry service between Larne and Cairnryan with the mono-hulled craft the Jetliner, she was replaced by the Superstar Express in April 2002. The Australian-built craft proved very successful on the service on the North Channel and was replaced in 2005 by the larger craft the Express, which will also operate to both Cairnryan and Troon from Northern Ireland.

In 2000 the Company took delivery of the first of their two purpose-built ferries for the Larne-Cairnryan service. The European Causeway, with a capacity for 410 passengers, 375 cars and 107 trailers, entered service in 2000 and was followed some 18 months later by the European Highlander. Both vessels since their entry into service have been an overwhelming success for the Company. During May 2002 P&O increased their capacity on their Liverpool-Dublin service after transferring the Ro-pax vessels Norbay and Norbank from the Company’s North Sea operations.In 2004 P&O disposed of their Fleetwood-Larne service to Stena Line of Sweden and the European Leader, European Pioneer and European Seafarer were sold to the new operator.