Brittany Ferries is to axe two of its English Channel routes, and this includes up to 20 jobs expected to be axed on its Poole-Cherbourg, France, service.
As Afloat reported in June, the ferry operator announced that it would end its Dorset-Normandy route in November and the Portsmouth-Le Havre link earlier in October. This leaves the Portsmouth-Caen/St. Malo and Plymouth-Roscoff routes unaffected by a cost-cutting exercise and reorganising of its English Channel network and fleet.
This is to involve selling two ferries, Barfleur from the Poole service and the ropax Cotentin currently operating Cherbourg-Rosslare Europort, which, among its Irish routes, has seen a dramatic traffic increase, aided by the closure of Stena Line's link almost a year ago. The withdrawal of the Le Havre route is to see the return to Rosslare of Commodore Clipper on the France route, replacing Cotentin.
As the Bournemouth-based Daily Echo also writes, a Poole Port stevedore who wished to remain anonymous said: "It's a well-established route, which has been running for 36-plus years, and it's causing devastation, really, to both sides of the Channel."
The Breton-based company said it was axing the Poole–Cherbourg route as part of a cost-cutting restructure, driven by rising taxes, Covid-loan repayments, weaker demand, and competition from rivals to the east on the English Channel. Notably DFDS (see Rosslare-Dunkirk), which operates the 'Transmanche' branded (subsidised public service) of Newhaven-Dieppe.
The Poole-Cherbourg route will be replaced by Brittany Ferries' neighbouring service to the east, Portsmouth-Cherbourg, from where the French port is a hub for the ferry firm’s rail-freight service to the Spanish border.
