Brittany Ferries 'Seasonal' Route Closes Leaves Hibernia Line to Soldier On Single Ship Service

14th November 2026

Jehan Ashmore

Armorique departing Ringaskiddy when the cruise ferry was nearing its end of ‘seasonal’ sailings on the Brittany Ferries Cork-Roscoff route last month. Along with the newcomer rival, Hibernia Line’s chartered German-flagged Akka, which is currently running as a single ship service to Boulogne as St. Patrick for weeks and has been under repairs at Dunkirk, France. The flagship, however, on 28 Nov is set to resume service on the only year-round direct route between Munster and mainland Europe, benefiting freight and passengers alike by avoiding Brexit-Britain. Credit: Jehan Ashmore

Armorique was unusually left to close the Brittany Ferries seasonal Cork-Roscoff route this year, as flagship ferry Pont-Aven was required for a special spectator cruise off Saint-Malo for the start of the recent La Route du Rhum Race, reports Jehan Ashmore.

Not only did the Armorique operate routine midweek sailings, but it also managed those on the final weekend round trip that is customary, conducted by Pont-Aven, to cease crossings for the year until next season in late March.

In recent years, the Armorique due to demand was added to the Ireland-France route with Wednesday sailings from Ringaskiddy and was also required to carry out the last of this year’s Roscoff-Plymouth crossings, which took place between Brittany and Cornwall over the weekend of October into November.

As this left no winter services by the Breton company to Ireland, but Cork-based Hibernia Line, which in the summer inaugurated a new year-round direct link to mainland Europe, serving Boulogne-Sur-Mer, enables freight and passengers another convenient travel option onward to Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and beyond. However, for over the last four weeks, the new start-up company has only been able to operate Akka, one of two chartered ropax ferries.

Single Ship Service

Since 11 October, Hibernia Line’s flagship St. Patrick has been forced off service to receive repairs at Damen Shiprepair Dunkerque, as Afloat first highlighted; however, the cruise ferry remains docked at the port’s Eastern Docks. It should be noted, the ferry never entered dry-dock but in recent weeks has shifted berths within the port on the North Sea coast.

Afloat sought a comment from Hibernia Line as to the reasons for the continued delays in which the company only confirmed that St. Patrick will be back in service on 28th November. The disruption has led the services' second ship, Akka, to soldier on this autumn, but with St. Patrick due back within a fortnight, it will be in place before the start of December and the festive season running into the new year.

In the meantime, the 18-knot Akka continues operating, but it originally started out named the Nils Holgersson when built in 2001 for TT Line, the charterer to the Irish company, and in terms of gross tonnage at 36,468, along with passenger and freight capacity, it is actually larger than the St. Patrick of 30,285 gt, which too was built in Germany.

However, Akka is less powerful than the almost 28-knot-capable flagship, which began its career in 2002, aptly named Superfast IX for Greek operator Superfast Ferries but is now owned by Tallink. Earlier in the launch of the Hibernia Line, St. Patrick developed a technical issue, which also forced a single outward sailing to return to Ringaskiddy. In addition, Akka’s timekeeping has led to a revised timetable, as this larger ferry was unable to keep up with its faster fleetmate flagship on the continental connection.

Akka and St. Patrick have operated on a rotational basis, as each ship departs at night and after 21.5 hours arrives the next day in either Irish or French ports, which is where Hibernia saw a gap in the market for this route, albeit long distance, as it provides the first ever direct passenger and freight ferry route between Munster and northern France.

When St. Patrick resumes service, it is not known if the Akka will be continued, as its time-charter expires in late autumn; if not, it will likewise leave the flagship alone running in the lead-up to the festive period.

Dunkirk/Dunkerque's Dry Dock Clients

As for now, also occupying Damen Shiprepair Dunkerque is the Irish Ferries Rosslare-Pembroke cruise ferry Isle of Innisfree, which arrived from South Wales last week and entered the floating dock. Nearby, another Cypriot-flagged ferry, P&O Liberte, one of two P&O Fusion-class cruise ferries from the Dover-Calais link is dry-docking and having this week made the short coastal passage from the major busy ferryport to the port’s eastern docks.

Published in Ferry, Brittany Ferries

Published in Ferry

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About The Author

Jehan Ashmore

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Jehan Ashmore is a marine correspondent, researcher and photographer, specialising in Irish ports, shipping and the ferry sector serving the UK and directly to mainland Europe. Jehan also occasionally writes a column, 'Maritime' Dalkey for the (Dalkey Community Council Newsletter) in addition to contributing to UK marine periodicals.

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