Brittany Ferries fleet movements

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In a surprise move Brittany Ferries will take the Armorique out of service on november 7th for lay up after only 9 months in service , it will be replaced on the Plymouth - Roscoff service by the Bretagne which will also operate Plymouth - Santander once a week with the Cotentin operating the route twice a week.
The Pont Aven will replace the Bretagne on the Portsmouth - St Malo service.
I wonder which ship will be operating into Cork next year?

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While not offically confirmed by Brittany Ferries it is believed that this season will be the last time the Pont Aven will operate into Cork.
It is expected that the Bretagne will operate the Cork - Roscoff service in 2010 , again this came from a VERY reliable source but has yet to be confirmed by Brittany Ferries.

[Kieran]

Cork-Roscoff has BF's highest load factor per sailing, so unless the Bretagne makes more than one trip a week, I can't see it happening...

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This used to be true , however figures for this year on the Cork - Roscoff show a decrease of approx 20% in traffic over last year , this is inspite of a 4% increase in Ireland - France traffic , the person I spoke to also mentioned that Irish Ferries Rosslare - France traffic was also down slightly and puts the increase down to competition from LD Lines and Celtic Ferries.
It seems that Brittany Ferries sees this trend continuing at least in the short term.
The fact that Brittany Ferries are increasing Freight capacity and decreasing passenger capacity on its UK - Spain service is also a reflection on current traffic levels on that route.
The Armorique being laid up so far is still a complete mystery.

[a2engineers]

An additional mid-week service would be a great addition and help reverse the trend of decreasing car /passanger traffic. For us this year for example 6 nights in France was too short and 13 days too long, we wanted 9 / 10 days. We chose Fly / Drive to get to La Rochelle.

There must be similar stories from visitors from mainland Europe.

Better packaging/networking of accomodation & ferry crossings would also assist in regaining ground lost to the airlines.

Maybe in the future Fastnet Lines might expand with a suitable ship to provide additional sailings to France and additional night crossings to Swansea from Cork.


With Irish Ferries, LD and Celtic ferries there is NO shortage of capacity to the East / Southeast of the country.

[Kieran]

Maybe in the future Fastnet Lines might expand with a suitable ship to provide additional sailings to France and additional night crossings to Swansea from Cork.

I have heard it mentioned, but Fastnet Lines priority is Swansea Cork, any expansion is something like 5 years down the line according to the presentations that were run...

[a2engineers]

Eckero Line may very well be open to the sale
of M/S Norlandia!!!  (strangley familiar)

There is significant over capacity on the Helsinki to Tallin run and overnight cabins are not required for the current schedule.

The Cork Roscoff route would benefit so much from the provision of an additional mid-week sailing.

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The future of the Cork - Roscoff service lies very much with Brittany Ferries at the moment , so its a case of wait to see what they will do as they have said nothing yet.
While Fastnet Line may expand in the future (something I myself would like to see) for the moment getting the Cork - Swansea service bedded down is the top priority and all resources and efforts are being applied there , while potential future expansion may be as much as 5 years away , if the Cork - Swansea exceeds expectations (which it may well do) it may well come sooner , but I myself would'nt see it happening until 2012 at the earliest (but I would'nt mind being proven wrong on that).
Nothing in terms of expansion has been discussed at an offical level at Fastnet Line so far , but who knows what the future holds , Fastnet Line is commited to Cork and its future prosperity so as has been demonstrated so far , anything is possible.
I myself also feel that it is the 1 sailing per week timetable that is dragging down the passenger numbers on the Cork - Roscoff in that the timetable offers no flexability and unless you can structure your travel arrangements into one week modules based on Saturday sailings then the service is of no use to you.
The ideal timetable would have 3 sailings per week , an example would be depatrures from Cork on monday , wednesday and saturday in the peak and wednesday and saturday off peak using smaller well fitted out ships (Bretagne size) , this would offer enough flexability to encourage growth on the route.
As I have said the final decision on this lies with Brittany Ferries , and it must be kept in mind that Brittany Ferries has always been good to Cork so lets wait to see what they come up with , and while I am saddened to loose the Pont Aven from Cork at least the service is not being cancelled which they could just as easily have done.

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The Pont L'Abbe has been chartered to Mediteranian operator Moby on a 3 year lease , Moby has the option to buy the Pont L'Abbe as part of the contract terms , it is expected to enter service in the Mediteranian in December.

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It seems that the Cork - Roscoff service will be operated by Pont Aven in 2010 after all.
The former Superfast V is to be named Cap Finistere and is expected in service in march to release the Cotentin from the Santander service.
Cotentin will then move to the Poole - Cherbourg service as a replacement for the Barfleur which will be withdrawn pending disposal in Febuary , Armorique will operate the service until Cotentin arrives.
Brittany Ferries are also said to be in discussions with Aker shipyards about the building of a new ship for the Portsmouth - Cean service , the project is currently dubbed Mont St Michel 2
Below , Rendering of the Cap Finistere from www.passengerships.fr

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From www.shipspotting.com , the Cap Finistere getting the Brittany Ferries treatment at Dunkerque.

[Kieran]

Barfleur is officially for sale also (it was initially though she would be chartered)...

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Cap Finistere has finished being Brittany Ferriesised and will enter service shortly.
Pic below is Cap Finistere entering Cherbourg from www.shipspotting.com

[Kieran]

She looks very well....

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Normandie Express is at Burgess Marine at Portsmouth to have a crankshaft replaced , it is expected back is service on May 9th.
Picture below from www.shipspotting.com