Plymouth-headquartered Brittany Ferries is reassuring passengers that problems facing loss-making cross-channel rival P&O Ferries will have no impact on its operation and it is ploughing ahead with plans to bring every ship back into service and re-open all its routes this summer.
P&O Ferries has suspended sailings “for the next few days” after having fired at least 800 workers. The ferry operator said in an internal statement it will make “a major announcement” which will “secure the long-term viability of P&O Ferries”. Union bosses fear the company is looking to make workers redundant and replace them with “foreign labour”.
In Plymouth, UK HQ of French-owned Brittany Ferries, management moved swiftly to reassure passengers that an issue affecting a completely different firm would have no impact on its sailings.
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It stressed Brittany Ferries doesn’t operate on the “short-sea” route from Dover to Calais, with its sailings beginning much further to the west, in Le Havre, and it is more likely that P&O passengers and freight might switch to other operators nearer Dover, rather than Brittany Ferries, which sails from Plymouth, Portsmouth and Poole.
A Brittany Ferries spokesman said: “We know some people may feel concerned by the news coming from Dover this morning. But this has nothing to do with Brittany Ferries.
“We are looking forward to bringing all our ships and routes back into service in a couple of weeks’ time. Furthermore, we will be running two services a week connecting Plymouth with Spain, rather than the single weekly return we ran last year.”
Earlier in March, Brittany Ferries said it will bring every ship back into service and re-open all its routes this summer with an increase in sailings from Plymouth, after two years of Covid disruption.
It will restart services from Plymouth and Poole, and increase the number of ships sailing between Ireland and France. After a winter service hiatus, Britain’s Ocean City will welcome Pont-Aven and Armorique back to Millbay.
Pont-Aven will serve two weekly rotations to Santander, previously it was one, starting on March 26, as well as a weekly round-trip to Roscoff in France. Armorique returns to daily rotations two days later, linking Plymouth with Roscoff, the company’s Breton home.
Meanwhile, Brittany Ferries’ first LNG powered vessel will sail for the first time with passengers from Portsmouth to Bilbao on March 27. As well as connecting the UK with Spain, she will run a weekly rotation between Portsmouth and Cherbourg.
The vessel Bretagne, known as the “grande dame'' of the Brittany Ferries’ fleet, will return to service after nearly 18 months servicing Portsmouth to St Malo, beginning March 26. The ferry Barfleur was laid up for almost two years during the Covid crisis. However, after a period serving freight on Portsmouth-Caen, she returns to her home route, Cherbourg to Poole, on April 4.
Meanwhile, P&O said its services will not operate for the "next few days", with passengers told to use other companies. P&O said its survival was dependent on "making swift and significant changes now". The company said: "In its current state, P&O Ferries is not a viable business. We have made a £100m loss year on year, which has been covered by our parent DP World. This is not sustainable. Without these changes there is no future for P&O Ferries."
