Brittany expedite Cherbourg sailings amid talk of new route

FOLLOWING hot on the heels of the Stena Embla, there will be another new arrival at Rosslare Europort this week as the Brittany Ferries ‘Cap Finistère’ arrives to temporarily relieve their ‘Connemara’ ship working the route between Rosslare and Northern Spain.

The French firm also confirmed that they are bringing their weekly service between Rosslare and Cherbourg forward by two months and this will also be serviced by the Cap Finistère until the Connemara’s return. However, it is understood that Brittany Ferries may be looking at the possibility of making the Cap Finistère a permanent fixture in Rosslare as it brings with it substantially more capacity. Where the Connemara is listed as having capacity for 500 passengers, 195 cars and 120 cabins on board, its temporary replacement has a listed capacity of 790 passengers, 500 cars and 265 cabins.

‘Brittany Ferries prides itself on decisive action, based on the flexibility of its fleet and we can meet the needs of the marketplace quickly,’ CEO Christophe Mathieu said, speaking on the rapid changes. ‘Cap Finistère is our fastest Ro-Ro vessel and she is therefore well suited to opening this new Brexit by-pass, making an additional sailing each week connecting France and Ireland.’

Sources in the shipping world are also saying that Brittany Ferries are in ‘advanced negotiations’ to create an additional route from Rosslare to the port of Le Havre in France, possibly just on a temporary basis, but again the company provided no confirmation of this, as well as remaining coy on a permanent stay for the Cap Finistère.

‘We are always in dialogue with our freight customers in order to best serve their needs,’ a spokesperson said. ‘We have no immediate plans to change our fleet deployment from our Irish ports, but will continue to monitor the situation.’

Port General Manager Glenn Carr also said that there