MS Isle of Innisfree is a passenger and car ferry to be operated by Irish Ferries between Dover and Calais. Originally built at Boelwerf as the Prins Filip originally sailing between Dover and Ostend, later between Ostend and Ramsgate, she has since 1997 (the year RMT shut down) operated for a wide variety of companies. Design The Isle of Innisfree is a unique ship, the only one of her class. She was built in 1991 for Regie voor Maritiem Transport for the company's Dover-Ostend operations. The ship is long by wide with a draught, and has some 1745 lane metres of cargo space for cars, lorries and other vehicles. The ship has three decks accessible to passengers - as built the full three decks were accessible to passengers, however under DFDS only one full deck is accessible (the lower deck), and the other two are only accessible to passengers on the stern - the rest is designated for crew. The ship was built for the Dover-Ostend run, and hence is of a unique design - alongside having a bow and stern with two-level loading, the ship also has a unique side door on the starboard bow on the upper vehicle deck, allowing loading of the upper deck should the upper bow linkspan be unusable. However, after 1997 the door was sealed shut as there are no compatible linkspans elsewhere outside of Ostend, so it was essentially useless. History RMT The Prins Filip was built for Belgian operator Regie voor Maritiem Transport (RMT) in 1991, entering service in 1992 on its route between Dover and Ostend. She remained in service with RMT when its UK port was switched to Ramsgate and until RMT's operations ceased in 1997. On 14 September 1994, an accident resulted in 6 deaths when a linkspan collapsed. Foot passengers were boarding the Prins Filip at Ramsgate. All publicity at the time was focused on Sally Line and Thanet District Council, the port owners, and not RMT or the Prins Filip. P&O Stena Line Following a lay-up in Dunkirk, she was acquired by Stena Line in 1998, renamed Stena Royal and initially used on freight services between Dover and Zeebrugge on charter to P&O Stena Line. In 1999, P&O Stena Line decided to extend the charter and transferred the ship to its Dover-Calais route. Stena Royal was extensively refurbished to include the P&O Stena 'Brand World' concept and