Ferry Time blog

Brittany Ferries is a leading ferry company operating on the western and central English Channel with a modern fleet of cross channel ferries.

Brittany ferries sail from Portsmouth, Poole and Plymouth in England, to Cherbourg, Caen, Roskoff and St Malo in Brittany and France, Cork in Ireland, Santander and Bilbao in Spain.

Brittany Ferries Channel crossings from Spain

Bilbao – Portsmouth
up to 2 crossings per week
from 23hrs 45mins

Santander – Plymouth
Infrequent crossings
20hrs

Santander – Portsmouth
up to 3 crossings per week
1 day

Brittany Ferries Channel crossings from France

Caen – Portsmouth
up to 4 crossings per day
from 3hrs 30mins

Cherbourg – Poole
up to 3 crossings per day
from 2hrs 30mins

Cherbourg – Portsmouth
up to 2 crossings per day
3hrs

Roscoff – Cork
Infrequent crossings
13hrs 45mins

Roscoff – Plymouth
up to 2 crossings per day
from 6hrs

St Malo – Plymouth
up to 2 crossings per week
8hrs

St Malo – Portsmouth
up to 2 crossings per day

Brittany Ferries Channel crossings from Ireland

Cork – Roscoff
Infrequent crossings
14hrs

Brittany Ferries Channel crossings from England

Plymouth – Roscoff
up to 2 crossings per day
from 6hrs

Plymouth – Santander
Infrequent crossings
19hrs 30mins

Plymouth – St Malo
Infrequent crossings
9hrs 15mins

Poole – Cherbourg
up to 3 crossings per day
from 2hrs 30mins

Portsmouth – Bilbao
up to 2 crossings per week
from 1 day

Portsmouth – Caen
up to 4 crossings per day
from 3hrs 30mins

Portsmouth – Santander
up to 3 crossings per week
from 1 day

Portsmouth – St Malo
up to 2 crossings per day
from 9hrs

Portsmouth – Cherbourg
up to 2 crossings per day
3hrs

Source: BBC News

A cross-Channel ferry to France which has been operating from a Dorset town for the past 17 years will be withdrawn due to declining passenger numbers.

Brittany Ferries said the Barfleur ferry between Poole and Cherbourg had been losing money since 2003 and would be taken out of service in the spring.

But the firm revealed it had bought a new £75m ferry to increase sailings from Portsmouth to northern Spain.

Poole councillor Ron Barker said the move was a blow to tourism in Dorset.

‘Totally devastated’

“Poole and Cherbourg have been twin towns for almost 30 years and it will have a cultural impact,” added Mr Parker, vice chairman of the Poole and Cherbourg management committee.

“This is [also] a bitter disappointment for the economy of both towns with a loss of tourism trade.

“We are totally devastated to lose the Barfleur – 80% of the passengers who travelled on it were from the UK.”

Stephen Tuckwell, from Brittany Ferries, said: “The new ship will operate three days a week to Cherbourg.

“We are also beefing up the number of departures from Poole to Cherbourg using the freight ships, so it is not the end of commercial operation to Cherbourg.

“But it does mean a switch from Poole to Portsmouth.”

Mr Tuckwell went on to say that the high-speed Normandie Vitesse ferry to Cherbourg had “done very well” compared to the Barfleur since its launch in 1998.

He added that “every effort” would be made to “limit the number of job losses” which “would be voluntary”.

Mr Tuckwell also indicated some of the staff could be transferred to Portsmouth to work on the additional services.

It was recently announced that the 24-year-old Portsmouth Continental Ferry Port is to be demolished in January to make way for a new £16m passenger terminal.

Source: BBC News

Cross-Channel ferry operator SeaFrance could be taken over by Brittany Ferries through a new holding company after negotiations with LD Lines broke down.

If successful, it would acquire four or five of SeaFrance’s vessels, which would continue in service sailing to Calais from the Kent port of Dover.

SeaFrance recently announced it could be axing up to 650 French jobs.

Brittany Ferries already operates five routes to France from Portsmouth, Poole and Plymouth and two to Spain.

It employs 2,500 staff, including 320 UK-based employees.

Union opposition

David Longden, managing director, said: “After 37 years of experience on the longer routes to France and Spain, this is an exciting opportunity to introduce Brittany Ferries’ award-winning standards on Dover-Calais crossings, and to provide an even greater choice for our passengers and freight customers.”

LD Lines, the newest ferry company operating between Dover and Boulogne and Dieppe, had been planning to make a formal bid for SeaFrance.

However, it revealed it had withdrawn its acquisition offer of a majority stake in SeaFrance, amid apparent union opposition.

SeaFrance’s parent company SNCF declined to comment on Wednesday.

Plymouth to Roskoff is long haul route run by Brittany Ferries, connecting  the South West of England with the North West of France. It’s popular with agricultural freight traffic bringing french vegetables across the channel as well as Spanish trucks buying up all the seafood from Newlyn in Cornwall.