Roscoff, France: Brittany Ferries plans three new weekly freight only sailings between Ireland and France beginning tomorrow with a sailing between Rosslare and St Malo.
The first of two new sailings out of Cork to Roscoff will begin this Saturday. These sailings are in addition to the current Brittany Ferries sailings out of Cork and Rosslare to France and Spain.
The new sailings are in response to demands from Irish and French hauliers seeking a more direct route that avoids the UK landbridge with its increased customs checks and paperwork.
Hugh Bruton, general manager, Brittany Ferries Ireland, said: “It’s clear that Brexit has distorted flows of trade between France and Ireland, there’s now clear and compelling demand both in Brittany and beyond to boost freight capacity direct from the region to Ireland. And Irish traders too are seeking direct links to Western France.
“We’re always listening to our haulier customers in order to best meet their needs and we look forward to restarting Brittany-Ireland services two months earlier than planned.”
The new Brittany-to-Ireland sailings come in addition to an extra weekly Rosslare to Cherbourg round trip which was introduced in mid-January. This means that from February Brittany Ferries will offer hauliers a choice of eight sailings a week in each direction between Ireland and France.
The company also offers two weekly roundtrips between Rosslare and Bilbao, northern Spain. Altogether the company will be offering 12 sailings a week linking Ireland with France and Spain.
These new freight only routes will operate until the end of March, when scheduled freight and passenger services will resume between Cork and Roscoff. With two weekly sailings in each direction, frequency has been doubled for 2021.
