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Brittany Ferries to charter additional ship from November
Brittany Ferries has announced it will charter an additional ship ahead of the 2020 season to secure services between the UK, France, Spain and Ireland.
The Visentini-class ship, which currently sails between Ancona and Trieste in Italy for Stena Ro-Ro, will be operated by Brittany Ferries for one year from this November until November 2020.
"This charter is an important step in our 2020 season planning," said Brittany CEO Christophe Mathieu. "We know that our flagship Pont-Aven will be out of service for at least 10 weeks in the winter for the replacement of one of her four engines. This will leave a significant gap in capacity across our network."
Thousands of Brittany Ferries’ customers had their travel plans disrupted earlier this month following a fire in the engine room of Pont-Aven, which had to be temporarily taken out of service.
Mathieu added: "We also need to be sure that our fleet can cope with any potential delays in the delivery of our next cruise-ferry Honfleur, ahead of the busy 2020 summer season. For these two reasons, we have taken the prudent decision to charter a new vessel for one year.
"Furthermore, and given what we learnt from Government Brexit no-deal preparations in March and April, we believe it is sensible to generate additional capacity to prepare for the impacts of Brexit, should it happen at the end of October and should our services be needed."
The new ship will take over Brittany Ferries’ sailings from Cork to Santander, extending the operating window for this service. The route, which represents the first time Spain and Ireland have been connected by ferry in their history, was opened in May 2018 for an initial two-year trial.
Connemara, which operates between Cork and Santander today, will be brought under the French-flag. This is six months earlier than originally planned and reinforces Brittany Ferries commitment to the employment of French seafarers.
Following her re-flagging, Connemara will be free to cover scheduled dry-dock periods for other vessels over the winter and to release Etretat (currently operating Portsmouth to Le Havre) to cover services from the UK to Spain in April.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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