According to German media reports, Brittany Ferries has terminated the contract for the construction of their new ferry HONFLEUR. The much delayed ship was estimated to take a further 6-12 months to complete. Originally the ship should have been delivered by June 2019. The termination would mean the the shipyard, Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft, currently has zero orders on its books.
As recently reported, insolvent FSG is in talks to be taken over by Pella Sietas. According to the German news report, these talks will continue. The news comes after the confirmation that Irish Continental Group’s contract for a new Irish Ferries ship has also been cancelled. Previously, the Tasmanian Government also cancelled an order for two new Ro-Pax ferries. HONFLEUR had been ordered to replace NORMANDIE on Brittany Ferries key Caen (Ouistreham)-Portsmouth route.
Production stopped
Production at FSG is currently stopped due to COVID-19, but the yard had hoped to resume work on HONFLEUR later this month. Despite the cancellation of HONFLEUR, Brittany Ferries still has three ferries on order from Stena RoRo. The first of these, GALICIA, could be delivered later in the year.
FSG General Manager Stefan Denkhaus is quoted as saying (translated):
“We cannot understand the customer decision and the termination came as a surprise”
Brittany Ferries has been contacted for comment. This post will be updated with their response when it comes.
Update 19.06.2020: Brittany Ferries has confirmed that the contract has been terminated.
