On the morning of 11 September 1946 the first voyage of the Atlantic Steam Navigation Company took place when "Empire Baltic" sailed from Tilbury to Rotterdam with a full load of 64 vehicles for the Dutch Government. The original three LSTs were joined in 1948 by another vessel, "LST 3041", renamed "Empire Doric", after the ASN were able to convince commercial operators to support the new route between Preston and the Northern Ireland port of Larne. The first sailing of this new route was on 21 May 1948 by "Empire Cedric". After the inaugural sailing "Empire Cedric" continued on the Northern Ireland service, offering initially a twice-weekly service. "Empire Cedric " was the first vessel of the ASN fleet to hold a passenger certificate, and was allowed to carry fifty passengers. Thus "Empire Cedric" became the first vessel in the world to operate as a commercial/passenger roll-on/roll-off ferry, and the ASN became the first commercial company to offer this type of service.