Brittany Ferries

Brittany Ferries logo until 1984

The ship MV Cap Finistère of Brittany Ferries entering the port of Santander.

BAI (Bretagne Angleterre Irlande) S.A. was founded by Alexis Gourvennec. Working with fellow Breton farmers, Gourvennec lobbied for improvements to Brittany's infrastructure, including better roads, telephone network, education and port access. By 1972 he had successfully secured funding and work to develop a deep-waterport at Roscoff. Gourvennec had no desire to run a ferry service, but existing operators showed little appetite for the opportunity.

The company itself began sailings on 2 January 1973 between Roscoff in Brittany and Plymouth in the South West of England, using the freight ferry Kerisnel a former Israeli tank carrier. The company's primary aim at that time was to exploit opportunities presented by the UK's entry into the Common Market (forerunner to the EU), to take control away from hated middle-men in Paris and export directly to markets in the United Kingdom.

In 1974, Kerisnel was replaced by Penn-Ar-Bed, which carried both passengers and vehicles, and the BAI company adopted the name Brittany Ferries.[2]

In late 2009, the new Poole-Santander freight-only service was deemed a success and the frequency was doubled: there would now be two services a week operated by Cotentin. In November 2009, Armorique was laid up for the rest of the winter season. Major changes were announced in December 2009. Barfleur was withdrawn from service at the end of January 2010 after nearly 18 years service on the Poole-Cherbourg route. The service was temporarily served by Armorique, which came back to service earlier than originally planned. The Poole-Santander service reverted to one sailing a week with Cotentin covering freight on the Poole-Cherbourg service in the absence of Barfleur. Condor Vitesse continued to operate one round sailing a day in the summer months between the two ports. Cap Finistère ran between Portsmouth and Santander twice a week and also operated three round trips a week between Portsmouth and Cherbourg. In September 2010, Brittany Ferries announced plans to serve the Portsmouth–Bilbao route recently abandoned by P&O Ferries.[3] The route started on 27 March 2011.

On 21 September 2012, Brittany Ferries cancelled sailings indefinitely following two days of wildcat strikes caused by crew members who were unhappy with changes in working terms and conditions. Meetings took place between management and unions to negotiate the management proposals. A vote was taken on 30 September by union members to decide if the management proposals would be accepted. The crew members accepted the proposal and services resumed on 2 October after 12 days without services. During this period, Brittany Ferries made special arrangements with P&O Ferries and MyFerryLink to accept Brittany Ferries tickets on the Dover–Calais route; any unused tickets were refunded.[4] Services were not affected on the Poole–Cherbourg route which was being operated by Condor Ferries.

From late March 2020, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Brittany Ferries was forced to cancel all passenger sailings until the 15 May 2020 after government advice was issued against all travel.[5] Initially they had been offering refund vouchers valid for two years for affected customers. Many customers were unsatisfied with vouchers and had requested a refund. Brittany Ferries had begun to issue refunds in the last week of April for customers that wished for a refund.[6] Customers were entitled to a refund under EU regulation 1177/2010 [7] however many travel companies have left people out of pocket, instead issuing vouchers which contravenes this regulation.[8]

On 18 June 2020, various shipping media reported that Brittany Ferries had terminated the contract for the build of 'Honfleur'. [9]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brittany Ferries.

• Official Brittany Ferries Website