Dublin to Liverpool Ferry: The Route Closed — Here Is What Replaced It
Dublin to Liverpool Ferry: The Route Closed — Here Is What Replaced It
There is no passenger ferry between Dublin and Liverpool. P&O withdrew the service in December 2023, and the Dublin–Birkenhead sailings that still run today are freight only. Here is what actually happened, and the crossings that will get you there instead.
Why you cannot book it
P&O Ferries withdrew the Dublin–Liverpool route on 21 December 2023. The operator’s own page now states plainly that the service “will no longer operate”.
The closure was not caused by lack of demand — the route was still running 24 sailings a week to the end. It came down to the berth: P&O lost its lease at Gladstone Dock when the port owner accepted a rival long-term proposal, and there was nowhere else to go.
One correction worth making, because almost every listing gets it wrong: P&O sailed from Gladstone Dock in Bootle, not Birkenhead. Birkenhead’s 12 Quays is a separate terminal on the other side of the Mersey.
How to make the journey now
- Dublin to Holyhead — the direct replacement. Irish Ferries and Stena Line run up to eight sailings a day, from about €27 as a foot passenger, with a railway station inside the Holyhead terminal and direct trains to Chester, Crewe and London.
- Rosslare to Fishguard — better if you are travelling from the south-east of Ireland, and the strongest SailRail connection on the Irish Sea.
- Rosslare to Pembroke Dock — the closest crossing to the M4 and southern England.
- For Liverpool specifically, the practical route is now Holyhead and then rail across north Wales, or the Isle of Man Steam Packet’s seasonal Dublin sailings.
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Route map
The old P&O crossing ran from Dublin Port to Gladstone Dock in Bootle — on the Liverpool side of the Mersey, not Birkenhead as often reported.
Freight, not passengers
Dublin to Birkenhead sailings do still exist, which is exactly why people assume the passenger route survived. They are freight only.
Stena Line opened a Dublin–Birkenhead freight service in February 2024, and CLdN RoRo — formerly Seatruck — runs the corridor too. Neither carries foot passengers or tourist cars. If a booking site appears to offer you a Dublin–Liverpool crossing, check what it is actually selling.
There was also a brief passenger diversion to Birkenhead in the winter of 2024–25, when Storm Darragh damaged Holyhead. That was emergency cover, not a revival, and it is a common source of out-of-date pages.
Worth knowing
Why the confusion persists
Freight sailings to Birkenhead still appear in shipping schedules, and aggregator sites often keep withdrawn routes listed long after the last departure. Both make it look as though the crossing is bookable.
It was never a walk-on route
Even before the closure, P&O carried only motorists and freight drivers on this crossing — around 114 berths on ropax vessels. Foot passengers were never accepted, so the loss changed less for rail travellers than it might seem.