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#WATERWAYS – In its latest marine notice Waterways Ireland has advised masters and owners of vessels that the following planned closures will be in place for the winter of 2011-2012.

GRAND CANAL – MAIN LINE

2nd Lock, Inchicore    The canal will be closed at the 2nd Lock from December 2011 to February 2012 for the replacement of lock gates.
Ardclough    The canal will be closed east of Henry Bridge to facilitate the laying of a storm water culvert by Kildare County Council – dates to be confirmed.
Tullamore    The canal will be closed from 7th November 2011 to 5th March 2012 to facilitate the construction of three footbridges and a boardwalk by Tullamore Town Council.
Ballycommon    The canal will be closed to facilitate dredging – dates to be confirmed.


GRAND CANAL – BARROW LINE

Glenaree to Rathangan    The Barrow Line will be closed between 22nd Lock at Glenaree and 23rd Lock at Rathangan from 1st November 2011 to 17th March 2012 to facilitate dredging.    

ROYAL CANAL

Spencer Dock, Newcomen Bridge    There will be no further lifts of Newcomen railway bridge until the 2012 boating season.
1st to 5th Locks, Dublin    The locks will be closed from November 2011 to March 2012 for repairs to the gates.
5th and 6th Levels, Cabra    The canal will be closed until January 2012 for dredging and relining of the channel.
8th Lock, Reilly’s Bridge    The lock will be closed from November 2011 to March 2012 for repairs to the gates.
33rd to 34th Lock    The canal will be closed for essential maintenance works – dates to be confirmed.
Mosstown Harbour to 41st Lock    The canal will be closed for essential maintenance works – dates to be confirmed.

BARROW NAVIGATION

Bagenalstown Lock    The lock will be closed for essential maintenance – dates to be confirmed.

Published in Inland Waterways

About Brittany Ferries

In 1967 a farmer from Finistère in Brittany, Alexis Gourvennec, succeeded in bringing together a variety of organisations from the region to embark on an ambitious project: the aim was to open up the region, to improve its infrastructure and to enrich its people by turning to traditional partners such as Ireland and the UK. In 1972 BAI (Brittany-England-Ireland) was born.

The first cross-Channel link was inaugurated in January 1973, when a converted Israeli tank-carrier called Kerisnel left the port of Roscoff for Plymouth carrying trucks loaded with Breton vegetables such as cauliflowers and artichokes. The story, therefore, begins on 2 January 1973, 24 hours after Great Britain's entry into the Common Market (EEC).

From these humble beginnings however, Brittany Ferries as the company was re-named quickly opened up to passenger transport, then became a tour operator.

Today, Brittany Ferries has established itself as the national leader in French maritime transport: an atypical leader, under private ownership, still owned by a Breton agricultural cooperative.

Eighty five percent of the company’s passengers are British.

Key Brittany Ferries figures:

  • Turnover: €202.4 million (compared with €469m in 2019)
  • Investment in three new ships, Galicia plus two new vessels powered by cleaner LNG (liquefied natural gas) arriving in 2022 and 2023
  • Employment: 2,474 seafarers and shore staff (average high/low season)
  • Passengers: 752,102 in 2020 (compared with 2,498,354 in 2019)
  • Freight: 160,377 in 2020 (compared with 201,554 in 2019)
  • Twelve ships operating services that connect France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain (non-Covid year) across 14 routes
  • Twelve ports in total: Bilbao, Santander, Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Cork, Rosslare, Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Saint-Malo, Roscoff
  • Tourism in Europe: 231,000 unique visitors, staying 2.6 million bed-nights in France in 2020 (compared with 857,000 unique visitors, staying 8,7 million bed-nights in 2019).