Brittany Ferries

The Brittany Ferries is a Breton Maritime company created in the Années 1970 with Roscoff by Alexis Gourvennec (1936 - 2007). It is specialized in the transport of passengers and vehicles between the Brittany, the Normandy, the south of the England, the Ireland and the Spain.

History

Brittany Ferries was born in 1972 under the impulse from Alexis Gourvennec and the Chamber of commerce and from Industry from Finistere north, in order to propose outlets for trade with the agricultural cooperative Breton, on the British market , while taking of account the tourist development of the area. The name is then BAI S.A. (for Brittany, England, Ireland), it acts of a Public limit company with the capital of 100.000 francs.

January 2nd, 1973, first crossed of the Handle with the Kérisnel . The assessment for this first year of exploitation posts 18.000 transported people, 6.000 trucks for a Turnover of 7,7 franc million. The following year, the company changes name to become Brittany Ferries, a new boat, the PEN-Ar-Bed increases the traffic.

In 1976, the line Saint-Malo - Portsmouth east creates, the company buys the Armorique . The lines Roscoff - Cork and Cork - Plymouth are open in 1978 and two other ferries join the fleet: the Cornwall and the Prince off Brittany . In 1982 the authorized capital of the company is carried to 140 million francs and the Quiberon takes service.

1985, Brittany Ferries repurchases the company Truckline Ferries and recovers two boats of freight the Coutance and the Purbeck . The following year, it is the opening of a new platform with Ouistreham which serves Portsmouth and of a new line Cherbourg - Poole; BF buys the Duc of Normandy . This same year, the figure of the million transported passengers is exceeded (1 142.000). In 1989, purchase of three new buildings: the Normandy Shipper (freight on the line Caen - Portsmouth), the Trégastel (Cherbourg - Poole) and the Brittany (Plymouth - Santander and Roscoff - Plymouth - Cork).

In 1990, Brittany Ferries transports 2.639.000 passengers and 3 million in 1994, year of the opening of the Channel tunnel. This last will grant an important percentage of the trans-manche traffic. In December 2002, a new ship, the Mount-Saint-Michel is brought into service on the line Caen - Portsmouth, then in 2004 the Bridge-Swallow-hole . In 2005, the company affrête the Normandy Express train , a fast trimaran able to cross the English Channel in 3 hours; the Loire Valley is sold, replaced by the Pont-L'Abbé in 2006. The sales turnover 2005 is established to 364,4 million euros, in rise of 5,1% compared to the previous year. The company is the first French maritime company of transport of passengers. It is one of the first employers of the west with more than 2.500 permanent employees. The whole of its manpower accounts for 20% of manpower of the French merchant navy.

In 2007, brought into service of the ferry of transport of freight Cotentin , on the Cherbourg-Poole line (and Poole-Santander the weekend). Built by the building sites Aker Yards of Helsinki, the ship has a capacity of 120 semitrailers.

Served lines

Boats in service

  • Barfleur : Cherbourg - Poole (brought into service 1992)
  • Brittany: Saint-Malo - Portsmouth (brought into service 1989)
  • Mount Saint Michel: Caen/Ouistreham - Portsmouth (brought into service 2002)
  • Normandy: Caen/Ouistreham - Portsmouth (brought into service 1992)
  • Bridge-Swallow-hole: Roscoff - Cork, Roscoff - Plymouth and Santander - Plymouth (brought into service 2004)
  • Bridge-L' abbot: Roscoff - Plymouth (brought into service 2006)
  • Normandy Express train: Caen/Ouistreham - Portsmouth in 3:30 and Cherbourg - Portsmouth in 3:00 (brought into service 2005)
  • Normandy speed: Cherbourg - Poole in 2:15 (brought into service 1998)
  • the Val-de-Loire was resold in March 2006 and renamed King off Scandinavia
  • in addition to these ships ensuring a service traveller with or without freight, the company has a frettor, MV Coutances, transporting trucks (40 at the most) between Caen/Ouistreham - Porthmouth.
  • Cotentin (ship-owner): Cherbourg - Poole (and Poole - Santander the weekend) (startup 2007)
  • Moreover, one new ship is in construction in Finland: Armorique, which will replace the Pont-l'Abbé.

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