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Displaying items by tag: Dun Laoghaire BID

#DunLaoghaireBIDThe Dublin People writes that the Dún Laoghaire business community, will not be affected by Stena Line's recent decision to end seasonal ferry services from the town to Holyhead, a local group has insisted.

Despite widespread expressions of concern for the future of the town's economy following the announcement, the Dún Laoghaire Business Improvement District (BID) company said it expects no negative impact on the local business community.

The BID company said the Stena move will not affect retailers as Dún Laoghaire Harbour has been designated as a marine and leisure destination by the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company Master plan and the National Ports Policy.

The BID focus on attracting leisure visitors, especially from the cruise industry, will be realised with over 100,000 cruise passengers set to arrive in Dún Laoghaire this summer, following an intense international marketing campaign by the Dún Laoghaire Cruise Stakeholders group, of which the BID Company is a member.

To read much more on this story, click HERE.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company Ltd (DLHC) are seeking expressions from other providers to operate a seasonal ferry service on the Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead route.

For further details, click for advert HERE. 

Afloat adds that according to the DLHC should a new operator be found such a service would not begin until 2016. 

 

About Brittany Ferries

In 1967 a farmer from Finistère in Brittany, Alexis Gourvennec, succeeded in bringing together a variety of organisations from the region to embark on an ambitious project: the aim was to open up the region, to improve its infrastructure and to enrich its people by turning to traditional partners such as Ireland and the UK. In 1972 BAI (Brittany-England-Ireland) was born.

The first cross-Channel link was inaugurated in January 1973, when a converted Israeli tank-carrier called Kerisnel left the port of Roscoff for Plymouth carrying trucks loaded with Breton vegetables such as cauliflowers and artichokes. The story, therefore, begins on 2 January 1973, 24 hours after Great Britain's entry into the Common Market (EEC).

From these humble beginnings however, Brittany Ferries as the company was re-named quickly opened up to passenger transport, then became a tour operator.

Today, Brittany Ferries has established itself as the national leader in French maritime transport: an atypical leader, under private ownership, still owned by a Breton agricultural cooperative.

Eighty five percent of the company’s passengers are British.

Key Brittany Ferries figures:

  • Turnover: €202.4 million (compared with €469m in 2019)
  • Investment in three new ships, Galicia plus two new vessels powered by cleaner LNG (liquefied natural gas) arriving in 2022 and 2023
  • Employment: 2,474 seafarers and shore staff (average high/low season)
  • Passengers: 752,102 in 2020 (compared with 2,498,354 in 2019)
  • Freight: 160,377 in 2020 (compared with 201,554 in 2019)
  • Twelve ships operating services that connect France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain (non-Covid year) across 14 routes
  • Twelve ports in total: Bilbao, Santander, Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Cork, Rosslare, Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Saint-Malo, Roscoff
  • Tourism in Europe: 231,000 unique visitors, staying 2.6 million bed-nights in France in 2020 (compared with 857,000 unique visitors, staying 8,7 million bed-nights in 2019).