A NEW car ferry service operating across a 1.3-mile stretch of Carlingford Lough, linking Greenore and Greencastle, could be operational by next summer - well ahead of the proposed Narrow Water Bridge opening between Warrenpoint and Omeath.
Developer Carlingford Ferries, which is pumping £7 million into the scheme, confirmed that it will submit planning applications this morning to the relevant agencies in both jurisdictions.
The company said that if the plan is approved the ferry could set sail as soon as next May or June, just in time for the holiday high season.
About 24 jobs will be created directly and a further 300 indirectly as a result of the proposal, which has been discussed for more than three decades but has never got this far until now.
"We've done our homework over the last five or six years and have left no stone unturned in ensuring this project will work," Carlingford Ferries director Paul O'Sullivan told The Irish News yesterday.
"We have invested £500,000 to get this tourism-generating proposal to the planning application stage in both jurisdictions and have another £7m of private funding set aside to bring it to fruition."
The crossing would take just 15 minutes and cut out a 33-mile car journey of often more than an hour, depending on congestion in Newry.
An economic impact assessment said the ferry service would create around €10m (£8.5m) of additional annual spend in the region and would open up tourism and economic links between counties Louth and Down.
Carlingford Ferries believes its service will complement the proposed Narrow Water Bridge. It said both can operate in tandem by creating a circular tourism route between the Mourne region and the Cooley Peninsula.