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Brittany Ferries News
End of Season Sailing for Brittany Ferries
#FERRY NEWS- The final Brittany Ferries sailing for 2012 departs on the return leg of the Cork-Roscoff route next Saturday 3 November, writes Jehan Ashmore. Those intending to book on the 14-hour route, only operated on weekends, should consult the…
Brittany Ferries Sailings Resume Service
#FERRY NEWS- Brittany Ferries are to resume sailings today, following the end of an industrial dispute as previously reported on Afloat.ie, which was carried out by employees that led to services halted between UK, France, Ireland and Spain. The Breton…
Disruption Continues on Brittany Ferries Services
#FERRY NEWS - Industrial action by French crews with Brittany Ferries is still disrupting the company's ferry services from Cork to Roscoff. As previously reported on Afloat.ie, a series of wildcat strikes by staff protesting against changes to their working…
Strike Action Leads to Cancelled Brittany Ferries Sailings
#SAILINGS CANCELLED – Due to a series of wildcat strikes yesterday by French employees of Brittany Ferries, the company has cancelled sailings on the Cork-Roscoff route until further notice and on its other routes to the UK and Spain. The…
Brittany Ferries 'Flagship' Sets Sail for Summer Season
#FERRY TO FRANCE – Brittany Ferries flagship Cork-Roscoff route is underway, as the first sailing in 2012 of the seasonal-only operated service started last weekend and runs to early November. Serving on the 14 hour route which is the shortest…
Brittany Ferries End of Season Sailings
Brittany Ferries last Cork-Roscoff sailing for this year is scheduled for this weekend, writes Jehan Ashmore. Passengers intending to travel on the last inward bound sailing from the Breton port which departs tomorrow (Friday) 28th at 21.15hrs (French time). The…
Brittany Ferries Roscoff Route to Re-open
Brittany Ferries seasonal service between Cork (Ringaskiddy) and Roscoff starts this Saturday, writes Jehan Ashmore. As usual the £100m 'flagship' Pont-Aven re-opens the 11-hour route with the first inbound sailing from the Breton port arriving at Ringaskiddy ferry terminal at…
Brittany Ferries Re-Open Bilbao Route
A ferry service to Spain is to start today, which had been previously served by the Irish Continental Group (ICG) owned cruiseferry Pride of Bilbao, writes Jehan Ashmore. Brittany Ferries 32,728 tonnes Cap Finistere will re-open the Portsmouth-Bilbao route following…

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).