Brittany Ferries

Brittany Ferries (founded in 1973 by Alexis Gourvennec) is the trading name of French shipping company BAI Bretagne Angleterre Irlande S.A. that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries between France and the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain, and between the United Kingdom and Spain.

This article is about the ferry company. For the historic trimaran, see Brittany Ferries (trimaran).

Brittany Ferries

Type	Private company
Industry	Passenger transportation Freight transportation Holidays
Genre	Holidays
Founded	1973
Founder	Alexis Gourvennec
Headquarters	Roscoff, France
Area served	France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain
Key people	Jean-Marc Roué Christophe Mathieu Frédéric Pouget Corinne Vintner
Revenue	€444.2 million (2018)
Total assets	€444.2 million (2018)
Owner	BAI Bretagne Angleterre Irlande S.A.
Number of employees	2,787 (2018 average - high and low seasons)[1]
Website	brittany-ferries.co.uk

History

Brittany Ferries logo until 1984

The ship MV Cap Finistère of Brittany Ferries entering the port of Santander.

BAI (Bretagne Angleterre Irlande) S.A. was founded by Alexis Gourvennec. Working with fellow Breton farmers, Gourvennec lobbied for improvements to Brittany's infrastructure, including better roads, telephone network, education and port access. By 1972 he had successfully secured funding and work to develop a deep-waterport at Roscoff. Gourvennec had no desire to run a ferry service, but existing operators showed little appetite for the opportunity.

The company itself began sailings on 2 January 1973 between Roscoff in Brittany and Plymouth in the South West of England, using the freight ferry Kerisnel a former Israeli tank carrier. The company's primary aim at that time was to exploit opportunities presented by the UK's entry into the Common Market (forerunner to the EU), to take control away from hated middle-men in Paris and export directly to markets in the United Kingdom.

In 1974, Kerisnel was replaced by Penn-Ar-Bed, which carried both passengers and vehicles, and the BAI company adopted the name Brittany Ferries.[2]

In late 2009, the new Poole-Santander freight-only service was deemed a success and the frequency was doubled: there would now be two services a week operated by Cotentin. In November 2009, Armorique was laid up for the rest of the winter season. Major changes were announced in December 2009. Barfleur was withdrawn from service at the end of January 2010 after nearly 18 years service on the Poole-Cherbourg route. The service was temporarily served by Armorique, which came back to service earlier than originally planned. The Poole-Santander service reverted to one sailing a week with Cotentin covering freight on the Poole-Cherbourg service in the absence of Barfleur. Condor Vitesse continued to operate one round sailing a day in the summer months between the two ports. Cap Finistère ran between Portsmouth and Santander twice a week and also operated three round trips a week between Portsmouth and Cherbourg. In September 2010, Brittany Ferries announced plans to serve the Portsmouth–Bilbao route recently abandoned by P&O Ferries.[3] The route started on 27 March 2011.

On 21 September 2012, Brittany Ferries cancelled sailings indefinitely following two days of wildcat strikes caused by crew members who were unhappy with changes in working terms and conditions. Meetings took place between management and unions to negotiate the management proposals. A vote was taken on 30 September by union members to decide if the management proposals would be accepted. The crew members accepted the proposal and services resumed on 2 October after 12 days without services. During this period, Brittany Ferries made special arrangements with P&O Ferries and MyFerryLink to accept Brittany Ferries tickets on the Dover–Calais route; any unused tickets were refunded.[4] Services were not affected on the Poole–Cherbourg route which was being operated by Condor Ferries.

From late March 2020, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Brittany Ferries was forced to cancel all passenger sailings until the 15 May 2020 after government advice was issued against all travel.[5] Initially they had been offering refund vouchers valid for two years for affected customers. Many customers were unsatisfied with vouchers and had requested a refund. Brittany Ferries had begun to issue refunds in the last week of April for customers that wished for a refund.[6] Customers were entitled to a refund under EU regulation 1177/2010 [7] however many travel companies have left people out of pocket, instead issuing vouchers which contravenes this regulation.[8]

On 18 June 2020, various shipping media reported that Brittany Ferries had terminated the contract for the build of 'Honfleur'. [9]

On 23 July 2020, Brittany Ferries announced there will be a new Rosslare-Cherbourg service. According to the timetable, Etretat will be used for this service once a week from March 22nd 2021. [10]

Fleet

Current Fleet

Ship	Built	Entered service	Gross tonnage	Length	Beam	Service speed	Vessel type	Port of registry	Current status
Armorique	2009	2009	29,468 GT	168.30 m	26.8 m	25 knots	Cruise Ferry	Morlaix	In Service
Barfleur	1992	1992	20,133 GT	158.7 m	23.3 m	19.5 knots	Cruise Ferry	Cherbourg	Laid Up in Caen
Bretagne	1989	1989	24,534 GT	152.80 m	26.0 m	21 knots	Cruise Ferry	Morlaix	In Service
Cap Finistère	2001	2010	32,728 GT	203.90 m	25.0 m	28 knots	Cruise Ferry	Morlaix	In Service
Connemara	2007	2018	27,414 GT	186.50 m	25.6 m	24 knots	Économie Service	Morlaix	In Service
Etretat	2008	2014	26,904 GT	187.00 m	26.0 m	24 knots	Économie Service	Le Havre	Laid Up in Le Havre
Kerry	2001	2019	24,418 GT	186.50 m	25.6 m	24 knots	Économie Service	Limassol	In Service
Mont St Michel	2002	2002	35,586 GT	173.95 m	28.5 m	22 knots	Cruise Ferry	Caen	In Service
Normandie	1992	1992	27,451 GT	161.40 m	26.0 m	20.5 knots	Cruise Ferry	Caen	In Service
Normandie Express	2000	2005	6,581 GT	97.22 m	26.6 m	42 knots	High Speed Ferry	Caen	Laid Up in Le Havre
MN Pelican	1999	2016	12,076 GT	155.5 m	22.7 m	20 knots	Freight Vessel	Marseille	In Service
Pont-Aven	2004	2004	40,859 GT	184.3 m	31.0 m	27 knots	Cruise Ferry	Morlaix	In Service

Past Fleet

Ship	Built	In service	Tonnage	Current status
Kerisnel	1972	1972	1,983 GT	Scrapped after sinking.
Bénodet	1970	1983-1985	4,317 GT	Since 2000, with Woodward Group as MS Apollo
Goelo	1967	1980-1982	5,149 GT	Scrapped in Turkey, 2001
Penn-Ar-Bed	1974	1974	6,399 GT	Scrapped in India, 2004
Armorique	1972	1976-1993	8,181 GT	Sunk in The Java Sea, 2011
Cornouailles	1977	1977	6,918 GT	Scrapped in Turkey, 2013
Reine Mathilde	1970	1978-1992	7,747 GT	Scrapped in India, 2005
Breizh Izel	1970	1980	6,576 GT	Scrapped in Turkey, 2014
Tregastel	1971	1985	8,696 GT	Ever since 2011, with Baaboud Shipping as MS Noor
Coutances	1970	1985-2008	6,507 GT	Sank in Puerto la Cruz, 2018
Purbeck	1978	1985	6,507 GT	Sank in Puerto la Cruz, 2018
Quiberon	1975	1982-2002	11,813 GT	Renamed D'Abundo and sent to Alang for scrapping
Duc de Normandie	1978	1986-2005	13,505 GT	Since 2013, with Acciona Trasmediterránea as Vronskiy
Duchesse Anne	1979	1988-1996	9,795 GT	Since 1996, with Jadrolinija as MF Dubrovnik
Val de Loire	1986	1993-2006	31,564 GT	Since 2006, with DFDS Seaways as MS King Seaways
Pont L'Abbe	1976	2006-2009	17,564 GT	Since 2009, with Moby Lines as Moby Corse
Cotentin	2007	2007-2013	22,252 GT	Since 2013, on charter to Stena Line as MS Stena Baltica
Baie de Seine	2001	2015-2020	22,382 GT	Returned to DFDS Seaways in March 2020 as MS Sirena Seaways

Future Fleet

Ship	Built	Entered service	Gross tonnage	Length	Beam	Service speed	Vessel type	Port of registry	Current status
Galicia	Under Construction	Under construction	42,400 GT	214.50 m	27.8 m	22 knots	Cruise Ferry	Morlaix	Due for delivery August 2020 [11]
Salamanca	On order	On order	42,400 GT	214.50 m	27.8 m	22 knots	Cruise Ferry	Unknown	Due for delivery Spring 2022 [12]
Santoña	On Order	On order	42,400 GT	214.50 m	27.8 m	22 knots	Cruise Ferry	Unknown	Due for delivery Spring 2023 [13]

Routes

Route	Vessel
Portsmouth ⇄ Caen	Mont St Michel and Normandie
Portsmouth ⇄ Le Havre	Etretat and Connemara
Portsmouth ⇄ Cherbourg	Normandie Express and Connemara
Portsmouth ⇄ Saint Malo	Bretagne and Pont-Aven (Winter service)
Portsmouth ⇄ Santander	Pont-Aven, Cap Finistere and Connemara
Portsmouth ⇄ Bilbao	Cap Finistere and Connemara
Poole ⇄ Cherbourg	Barfleur
Poole ⇄ Bilbao	MN Pelican (Freight only)
Plymouth ⇄ Roscoff	Armorique and Pont-Aven
Plymouth ⇄ Santander	Pont-Aven
Cork ⇄ Roscoff	Pont-Aven and Armorique
Rosslare ⇄ Bilbao	Kerry
Rosslare ⇄ Roscoff	Kerry
Rosslare ⇄ Cherbourg	Etretat (From 22 March 2021)

References

Notes

1. "Brittany Ferries Bilan Consolidé (Balance Sheet), including employee numbers" (PDF). Brittany Ferries Corporate.
2. Hoyle, B S; Pinder, David, eds. (1992). European Port Cities in Transition. London: Belhaven Press in association with the British Association for the Advancement of Science. p. 92. ISBN 9780470219263.
3. "Brittany Ferries saves Portsmouth-Bilbao route". Travel News UK. 27 September 2010. Archived from the original on 4 December 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
4. "Brittany Ferries services halted 'until further notice'". BBC News. 21 September 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
5. "Britons are advised against all non-essential foreign travel".
6. "Brittany Ferries to offer refunds not credit notes".
7. "My Ferry Has Been Delayed Or Cancelled – Could I Be Entitled To Compensation?".
8. "Coronavirus: Watchdog threatens legal action on holiday refunds".
9. "Current building contract at Flensburger Werft FSG terminated".
10. "New Rosslare - Cherbourg Route in 2021".
11. "New vessels for Brittany Ferries UK-Spain routes".
12. "New vessels for Brittany Ferries UK-Spain routes".
13. "Brittany Ferries to name its third E-Flexer ferry Santoña".

Bibliography

• Cowsill, Miles (1993). Brittany Ferries: From the Land to the Sea / De la Terre a la Mer (in English and French). Kilgetty, Pembrokeshire: Ferry Publications. ISBN 1871947170.
• Cowsill, Miles (2007). Brittany Ferries: 1973–2007. Ramsey, Isle of Man: Ferry Publications. ISBN 1871947898.
• Cowsill, Miles (2013). Brittany Ferries: 40 memorable years of service, hospitality and holidays. Ramsey, Isle of Man: Ferry Publications. ISBN 9781906608521.

External links

• Official Brittany Ferries Website