French ferry operator Brittany Ferries has announced it will offer a new seasonal route from Rosslare from March 2021. The new service links the Wexford port with Cherbourg in competition with Stena Line’s year-round offer, though at present the two operators will offer sailings on different days. Brittany Ferries already offers a year-round service from Rosslare to Bilbao in addition to seasonal link to Roscoff.
Cork frequency doubled
Currently there is no timetable available for the latter route past the end of October, however. The company’s appear to be replacing the weekly Roscoff trip with Cherbourg. Instead, the company’s flagship PONT AVEN and ARMORIQUE will offer two round trips between Cork and Roscoff on that seasonal service next year. Previously only one round trip per week was offered from Cork. ARMORIQUE will leave Cork on Wednesday’s and PONT AVEN on Saturdays. The expected on-time arrival of the first Brittany Ferries E-Flexer GALICIA has created sufficient room in the timetable to allow the additional trip from Cork.
New ship for Rosslare – Bilbao
The new “economie” branded Cherbourg route will be served by the Visentini Ro-Pax ETRETAT, currently on charter from Stena RoRo. She will leave Rosslare on Monday’s at 20:00 from and arrive in Cherbourg at 14:00 on Tuesday afternoon. For her return journey, ETRETAT will leave Cherbourg at 16:45 on Tuesday, arriving at 08:15 in Rosslare.
In addition to offering an alternative to the Stena Line service between Rosslare and Cherbourg, the new Brittany Ferries service will be an alternative option for many considering sailing on Irish Ferries Dublin – Cherbourg route. ETRETAT is also scheduled to replace KERRY on the company’s Rosslare – Bilbao timetable from November. 2020. KERRY is also chartered from Stena RoRo, and the agreement is expected to expire at the end of October.
Familiar ship
ETRETAT is a part-sister to Stena Line’s STENA HORIZON and Irish Ferries EPSILON, but has a different layout and less passenger accommodation and facilities than the Stena Line ship. She was previously NORMAN VOYAGER for LD Lines and Celtic Link, operating from Rosslare to the French ports of Le Havre and Cherbourg respectively. Although the ship is theoretically capable of accommodating more people, Brittany Ferries currently limits her capacity to 400. As an ‘economie’ branded ship, ETRETAT offers less extensive passenger facilities than many of Brittany Ferries other ships.
Further information about ETRETAT, including a downloadable leaflet which includes a layout plan, can be found on the company website. For further information on the Brittany Ferries Rosslare – Cherbourg route and to book, visit the Brittany Ferries website here. The first sailing is timetabled to leave Rosslare for Cherbourg on March 22.
