Displaying items by tag: More New Routes

2nd February 2021

Further Expansion By Brittany Ferries, Increases Rosslare's European Services to 32 Weekly

Expansion by Brittany Ferries is to see new routes and sailings to France (starting this week AFLOAT adds by Armorique above), bringing more freight options for hauliers connecting to mainland Europe. Freight volumes through the port were up almost 500% in January 2021 compared to last year. The news follows the French operators announcement to also boost operations with a new route and crossings out of Cork.

The Government's Operational Update review on trade a month after the post-Brexit transition ended, Afloat adds narrowly missed inclusion as yet another ferry development arose today, as Brittany Ferries announced new 'freight' routes increasing capacity directly to mainland Europe.

Glenn Carr, General Manager of Rosslare Europort welcomed the announcement by Brittany Ferries of a further weekly service each between the Co. Wexford port and St Malo and Roscoff, in Brittany, France.

As also reported today, the revived Roscoff route resumes service this Thursday, 4th February (this follows, Afloat adds the route's debut last year albeit also available for passengers).

The new services combined bring to 32 – sixteen in each direction – the number of weekly direct services across all shipping operators between Rosslare Europort and the European continent, establishing Rosslare as Ireland’s number one port for direct European services.

The first month of trading in 2021 has seen sensational results at Rosslare Europort. Despite the challenges of Covid 19 and the current difficulties with the UK post Brexit, overall Freight traffic at the port is 45% ahead when compared to the same period last year.

While UK traffic is down 49% for January, European Freight is up an incredible 446% year on year with unprecedented demand for the new direct services operating from Rosslare Europort to mainland Europe.

Commenting on the first month of trading for 2021, General Manager, Glenn Carr stated “We are absolutely delighted with how the market has reacted and supported our direct services from Rosslare to Europe, and welcome Brittany Ferries further commitment to the needs of Irish industry with this new service announced today.

The demand has been phenomenal for the new and expanded services from all of our operators, and these results prove the strategic importance and potential of the port to our customers, industry and our economy. Through the significant challenges with Covid and Brexit, great credit must go to all colleagues working at the port and our shipping lines who have provided exceptional frequency and capacity on the now 32 services a week between Rosslare and Europe. We will continue to work with shipping lines and Irish industry in identifying further opportunities to meet market demand, and ensure that we build on the work to-date at the port to maximise the role of Rosslare Europort for both the South-East and wider economy of Ireland.

These are very exciting times at Rosslare Europort with the increase in business, commencement of our €35 million Masterplan and our recent proposal to Government for the port to be further developed as the Off-Shore Wind Energy Hub for the country and I look forward to working with all stakeholders in achieving this.”

The new Brittany Ferries service is the latest boost in 2021 to direct services between Rosslare Europort and the Continent.

So far, we have seen:

New six-times weekly DFDS Rosslare Europort to Dunkirk service commence
Expansion of Stena Line Rosslare Europort to Cherbourg services from three services each way weekly to six services each way weekly
Stena Line capacity further increased, with the new Stena Embla redeployed to the Rosslare to Cherbourg route since Thursday 14th January
Brittany Ferries began its weekly each way service between Rosslare Europort and Cherbourg two months ahead of schedule, in addition to the operators ongoing twice weekly each way service between Rosslare and Bilbao.
In addition as Afloat earlier reported, Brittany Ferries is to start a new weekly Rosslare to St Malo route

Published in Brittany Ferries

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About the 29er Skiff Dinghy

The 29er is a one-design double-handed, single trapeze skiff for youth sailors.

There is an active class in Ireland, just one of the 38-countries from across all continents now racing the high-performance skiff.

The 29er is one of the latest dinghy classes to arrive in Ireland and has a 50/50 split between boys and girls.

The class like to describe the boat as "The most popular skiff for sailors who want to go fast!".

Derived from the Olympic class 49er class and designed by Julian Bethwaite the 29er was first produced in 1998.

Two sailors sail the 29er, one on trapeze.

The 6.25-metre high rig features a fractional asymmetrical spinnaker; a self-tacking jib decreases the workload of the crew, making manoeuvres more efficient and freeing the crew to take the mainsheet upwind and on two-sail reaches.

The 15.00 m2 spinnaker rigging set-up challenges crews to be fit and coordinated, and manoeuvres in the boat require athleticism due to its lack of inherent stability and the high speed with which the fully battened mainsail and jib power up.

The 74kg weight hull is constructed of fibreglass-reinforced polyester in a foam sandwich layout.

The fully battened mainsail and jib are made from a transparent Mylar laminate with orange or red Dacron trimming, while the spinnaker is manufactured from ripstop Nylon.

The mast is in three parts - an aluminium bottom and middle section, with a polyester-fibreglass composite tip to increase mast bend and decrease both overall weights, and the capsizing moment a heavy mast tip can generate. Foils are aluminium or fibreglass.

About the ILCA/Laser Dinghy

The ILCA, formerly known as the Laser, is the most produced boat in the world, with 220,000 units built since 1971.

It's easy to see why the single-handed dinghy has won the title of the most widely distributed boat of all time.

The Laser is a one-design dinghy, the hulls being identical but three rigs that can be used according to the size and weight of the sailor.

The class is international, with sailors from 120 countries. The boat has also been an Olympic class since 1996, being both the men's and women's singlehanded dinghy.

Three rigs are recognised by the International Laser Class Association (ILCA):

ILCA 4: sail of 4.70m2

ILCA 6: sail of 5.76 m2

ILCA 7: sail of 7.06 m2