"Unfortunately, as well as the global health implications, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic continue to weigh heavily on the economy and to certain sectors in particular.  Along with many other companies in the travel sector, Brittany Ferries’ business model has been very severely impacted by the near total loss of our tourism revenue.  Our business is based on a mix of freight and passengers, the latter accounting for some 70% of the company’s turnover.  As tourism disappeared entirely back in March and April 2020, Brittany Ferries reduced its offer to freight-only on a reduced network.  In July, we started to re-open some of our routes, but sadly, since then, we have seen the imposition of quarantine restrictions for travel between Spain and France to the United Kingdom.  As prospects for any improvement during the winter look remote, we have taken the difficult decision to make the following changes to our sailing schedules:

Channel services

Portsmouth-St Malo – suspended until March 2021.

Poole-Cherbourg – suspended until January 2021, to be reviewed during the autumn

Portsmouth-Cherbourg – suspended until December 2020.

Portsmouth-Le Havre – suspended until January 2021, to be reviewed during the autumn.

Plymouth-Roscoff – three weekly services during Sept, Oct then suspended until March 2021.

Portsmouth-Caen – normal service, with some capacity reduction during November and December due to ship maintenance.

Spanish services

Portsmouth-Santander – 1 weekly service Sept, Oct, Nov, 2 weekly services from December.

Portsmouth-Bilbao – 2 weekly services Sept, Oct, Nov.  Service then suspended until March 2021.

Plymouth-Santander – 1 weekly service Sep, Oct.  Service then suspended until March 2021.

Poole-Bilbao – normal service.

Irish services

Rosslare-Bilbao – normal service, other than suspension during February 2021 for maintenance.

Rosslare-Roscoff – service suspended, new service between Rosslare-Cherbourg commencing March 2021

Cork-Roscoff – normal service Sep, Oct.  Service then suspended until March 2021.

In the midst of these difficult announcements, Brittany Ferries does have some very welcome news, however.  On 2 December 2020, the newly built MV Galicia will make her maiden voyage from Santander-Portsmouth.  She will offer a twice weekly service between those two ports, plus a weekly round-trip between Portsmouth-Cherbourg.  The charter agreement for Galicia was signed in 2019, well before the current health crisis. She will bring a significant boost to capacity to our Spanish services.

This major consolidation of our offer over the busy winter period will inevitably impact the level of service and capacity that we are able to offer.  Sadly, this action is imperative to safeguard the future of Brittany Ferries.  We very much hope that we can continue to rely on your support and thank you for your understanding."

- Brittany Ferries