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
Is there any news about the Dover Harbour Board proposal to privatise the Port of Dover ?
The last I heard, the scheme was under consideration by Her Majesty’s government with a view to agreeing to the sell off. The problem is that the three Dover Calais Ferry operators, P&O Ferries, SeaFrance and NorfolkLine seem to be in dispute with the Harbour board over the increased harbour fees, and also there is a loose kind of proposal from the Dover and Deal MP Charlie Elphicke which he calls the “People’s Port” and has been criticised by the previous Labour Party MP Gwyn Prosser.
P&O Ferries have written to the UK’s Secretary of State for Transport looking for clarification on the matter.
P&O are not the only shipping line to be concerned by the board’s plans as Norfolkline, SeaFrance and DFDS have also raised the issue on a number of occasions. P&O Ferries CEO Helen Deeble said:
DHB’s proposal is that Opco [the board’s wholly-owned subsidiary as a company limited by shares] should settle a cash sum of £10 million (US$15.7m) on the Port of Dover Community Trust (PDCT), together with a further amount of cash specifically earmarked for (immediate) use to subscribe for securities of Opco having a value of £20 million at the time of sale. The latter element would be cash-neutral to Opco, as the sum contributed for the subscription would return to Opco as paid-up share capital. Opco will also undertake to enter into arrangements to make regular contributions to the PDCT in its early years, so that the PDCT will have an assured income stream during that period.
P&O Ferries is looking forward to the launch of Spirit of Britain, by far the largest ferry ever designed for the Dover – Calais Ferry route.
The Spirit of Britain ferry is nearing completion prior to starting service in mid January 2011.
The operator P & O Ferries is building a pair of these new ships, the second being Spirit of France which enters service next September.
“This reflects a certain degree of confidence for the long term as the pair of ships are costing the company a cool €360 million,” said a spokesman from P & O.
Cross channel ferries are coping with extra passenger traffic from people making their way home after bring stranded by flight ban caused by the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland.
The Port of Dover is running as if it were August with extra sailings, and plenty of spare capacity including foot passenger spaces. Normal turn-up-and-go fares apply.
Eurostar has put on at least an extra 28 trains and says it has 30,000 standard class one-way seats available from today at £89
Tour operators and airlines however, said the backlog caused by the erupting volcano Eyjafjalloekull is so great that it will take up to 14 days to clear.
Many britons held up in Spain are making their way to northern Spanish ports such as Santander to wait for the ferry crossing to Plymouth or else the royal navy ships which are being diverted to help out.
????The new Fastnet line ferry service from Cork to Swansea ( and also of course sailing from Swansea to Cork) begins in March and the ferry company website at http://www.fastnetline.com/special_offers.html is currently showing the following two special offers for March 2010 and one that continues through until June and then after the peak season right up until Christmas 2010.
Special Offer – Kids travel FREE! on Fastnet Line
That’s right – simply book at least one adult ticket with vehicle for travel during 2010
- and up to three children can travel with you free*!
*Bookings must be made before 1st April 2010, children must be under 16 on the date of travel, excludes cabin
Extra-special “Happy New Year” Offer!
Book before January 31st 2010 – and 1 adult & car can travel for only £89 / €99
on all dates from 1st - 31st March 2010 (inclusive)*.*excludes cost of cabin / seating
Enjoy a long weekend in Swansea, Wales or South West of England
Depart Cork Thursday evening arrive Swansea Friday returning on Sunday to arrive at 7.00 a.m with enough time to get to work after a restful nights crossing
For travel on any Thursday and returning on any Sunday evening from March to June and September to December 1 Adult & Car can travel for £ 89/ € 99 each way *excludes cost of cabin/seating
The service begins on 1st March 2010 – and is planned to operate year-round – for convenient travel both in and out of season.
Saves you 600km (375 miles) driving on a round trip and connects Cork direct to the M4 motorway (with hassle-free access to London, the south-west and the midlands)
Sailings between Cork & Swansea plannedsix nights a week, with additional sailings during peak periods and for special events.
Overnight sailings departing at 21.00 & arriving 07.00 next day – so you arrive relaxed and ready to continue your holiday or onward journey.
Efficient, straightforward on-line booking system (coming soon) – so you don’t have to spend hours ‘on hold’ waiting for an operator.
Over 300 Cabins and ample ‘Pullman’ seating, for a comfortable, relaxing trip
Capacity for 1,860 passengers, 440 Cars, 40 Trucks – plenty of room for commercial and leisure travellers alike
Extensive selection of Bars, Restaurants, Shopping, Cinema and Kids Area on board – not just a ferry crossing – more of a mini-cruise – your holiday starts the moment you get on-board!
Julia is currently docked in Cork City at Horgan’s Quay preparing for initial sailing – if you’re in the area, come and see her from the quayside – she’s impressive!
The Julia and Fastnet Line are owned by a co-operative of small investors – we aim to be the most customer-focused ferry service on the Irish Sea.
Visit the website for more information, to pre-register, to give us your comments and suggestions or to find out about partnering opportunities for Travel Agents and Group organisers with Fastnet Line
The Fastnet Line is the new passenger & freight ferry service linking Swansea in Wales with Cork in Ireland, replacing the previous service which stopped sailing in 2006.
It was a great example of how a community can get organised to prevent the big business ferry operators from cutting them off from important transport links. A local campaign was mounted and eventually succeeding in putting together a proposition to get the Swansea Cork ferry sailing again, this time as “The People’s Ferry”
Fastnet Line will provide holiday passengers with a comfortable overnight crossing in a fully-equipped ship, also carrying freight. Lorry drivers will be able to to rest overnight and cut out hundreds of miles of unnecessary driving in Ireland and Wales.
Fastnet Line to Swansea service from Cork will start on 1st March 2010 – the new ship MV Julia having been already purchased for only 7million Euros and now berthed at Horgans Quay in the centre of Cork City since 25th September 2009. Here she is sailing into the port of Cork with some commentary from the organisers .
With effect from 1st September 2009, the ferry company DFDS Seaways will be
introducing a fuel surcharge across all of their products. The price
of oil has reached a level which gives DFDS Seaways considerable extra
costs for the purchase of fuel. The temporary fuel surcharge will be
£5pp each way and children are exempt from the surcharge.
Their website at www.dfds.co.uk is updated with the new fuel-inclusive
prices since Saturday 29th August 2009.
The price of oil has fluctuated a great deal during the last year, and
the ferry company chose to wait as long as possible before
introducing a surcharge. Now the price of oil has stabilised at a high
level so they can no longer absorb the higher fuel costs by making
savings in other places.
Other ferry cpmpanies are expected to follow suit, if they have not
done so already.
Ferry from Pembroke Dock, Wales to Ferrol, Galicia, Spain
Here’s a new ferry route planned which sounds great for Wales and Galicia but with restricted passenger numbers. A new ferry service which could take cargo and passengers directly from Pembrokeshire to the north coast of Spain is now under discussion and could be up and running as early as next year, 2010. The possible route between Pembroke Dock and the city of Ferrol, in north western Spain, is still in its early stages, but could give huge advantages to haulage companies if it goes ahead.
Passenger ferry service
Unfortunately for potential holidaymakers and tourists, the ferry service being discussed by the Milford Haven Port Authority (MHPA) and port bosses at Ferrol would only have room for about 10 to 12 passengers, the main focus being on transporting freight, unaccompanied by drivers, which would be dropped off at the ferry in Pembroke Dock and picked up at the other side. In other words, this would be a container ferry rather than a car ferry or even long distance lorry ferry.
Ferries reduce environmental impact
MHPA commercial director Joe Besch said:
The benefit would be that you don’t have a lorry driving right across England, France and Spain. Companies can save on the environmental impact and on the roads and costs of drivers”
Research has already shown that there are between 90 to 100,000 potential truck loads which could use the service, with around 16,000 units needed to make the route viable.
Mr Besch continued
The more people we can get the better, because you are increasing the utilisation of the ferry terminal at Pembroke Dock and we also have a twice daily service with Ireland and this would allow for Irish cargo to come from Ireland and send cargo directly over to Spain. We have spoken to ship owners and ferry companies, the next stage is to do more market research and find out who the companies are who could use the service.
Where is Ferrol?
Ferrol is a city in the Province of A Coruña in Galicia. Located on the Atlantic coast in north-western Spain, it has urban population of 77,859 and metropolitan area of over 241,528 (2007)
The city has been a major naval shipbuilding centre for most of its history, being the capital of the Spanish Navy’s Maritime Department of the North since the time of the early Bourbons. Before that, in the 17th century, Ferrol was the most important arsenal in Europe. Today, the city is also known as the home of the shipbuilding yards of Navantia.
The new Fastnet line Swansea to Cork ferry will begin on St David’s Day 2010.
It was hoped a new ship would run the route between Wales and the Irish Republic earlier than 2010 but the co-operative aiming to restart the service says it will not run until early next year now.
The delay has been blamed on the lengthy negotiations to secure the vessel and many travellers already having made alternative arrangements for this year, so it will now set sail for the first time on St David’s Day 2010.
Last month, hundreds of shareholders voted in favour of forming a co-operative to purchase the 340-cabin, 1,400-passenger ferry MS Julia to run the route.
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