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It is very disappointing to have only WB Yeats as and option for booking. Why the hold up for the rest?

I am now regretting waiting for Irish Ferries to come up with their schedule . I should have booked with Stena when I had the chance.

Will OS sail from Rosslare for France now and if so what days?

The aforementioned increase in deposit and resulting reduction in speculative double bookings is bound to have made an impact for a start - 4% isn't a big enough number that it couldn't conceivably not be a result of such a policy.  There's also the fact that BF's numbers are already in decline on some routes with the Caen route down by 7.4% in 2017 vs 2016 for example (by BF's own admission).  Portsmouth to Cherbourg was down 9% over summer 2018 according to BF's latest published figures yet other routes were slightly up.  I don't see DFDS or P&O complaining to the press about how brexit is killing their business, nor Eurotunnel for that matter!!!  While there may be a bit of a brexit effect I personally feel it's more likely people are using different travel options (airlines, Dover Strait, Holiday elsewhere than France) and not double booking anymore due to the financial penalty
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With the introduction of the deposit etc maybe the drop in passengers is only reflecting the true bookings and not an inflated figure due to speculative  bookings previously experienced. Judgement is probably best left until this time next year.
With Brexit there is also the possibility, as Stenaline have stated, of relocating ships to other more direct routes from Ireland to France and Spain.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46095038


Further discussion on Brexit impacts.

Interesting times ahead.

Important to put this in context I feel.  Christophe Mathieu in particular is publicly very anti-brexit and never misses an opportunity to rant about it on twitter for example.  The article notably doesn't mention that BF have had a problem with people making double bookings and cancelling at the last moment, which they have addressed by requiring a 20% deposit (rather than a flat fee) at the time of booking.  That in itself could conceivably put future bookings down on previous years as people are less likely to book two crossings in advance to cancel one at a later date!  It's hard to tell how much of this decline is Brexit related and how much is due to other factors - I suspect BF themselves don't even really know!

Steven, If not Brexit what other factors do you reckon are responsible?

When she does arrive a planned protest will take place ...British and Irish unions will be present...Irish Ferries still pay terrible wages to mostly eastern european crews ...and the prospect of employing local crews is a million miles away..shame on them.....lets hope there is a big turn out

Why would the Irish and British trade Unions not "organise" the present crews and encourage them to joint a Trade Union for better conditions / pay? Surely this would be better than expecting to replace the current crews (regardless of where they are from) with people who may not want to work anyway.