17 February 2021
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
Brittany Ferries says it will remain a predominantly freight-only service for now.
Prior to COVID19 around 80 per cent of the brands annual income was generated by holidaymakers, but with international travel essentially banned for most people the Ferry company has had to focus on freight for the time being.
Brittany Ferries has announced that due to the current travel restrictions, its flagship passenger service out of Cork to France will not now resume at the end of March as planned. The service will be “kept under review” and it is anticipated that services will recommence in “mid-May”. Meanwhile, Freight only sailings out of both Cork and Rosslare will continue as scheduled.
The move follows the continued stringent travel restrictions for passengers with only essential travel. The decision by Brittany Ferries also sees the continuing suspension of a number of their other passenger services between the UK, France and Spain.
In the coming days, Brittany Ferries will contact customers who hold bookings on affected sailings, to offer alternative travel or a refund.
Christophe Mathieu, Brittany Ferries’ CEO said
“Naturally we very much regret any inconvenience that these changes will cause our customers,”
“We had hoped for a return to service for all our routes in mid-March, but the reality is that most people are simply unable to travel at this time. Booking levels are extremely low and we are relying on loans to carry us through this difficult period. It is therefore simply not viable to run loss-making routes at this time.”
“But we continue to monitor the health and travel situation in all our markets – UK, Ireland, France and Spain. As soon as our customers can travel again, we will be there for them. We are also pushing governments to set out a pragmatic, co-ordinated and clear roadmap to safely re-open travel as soon as the health situation permits. We believe that the ramp-up of vaccines means that this re-opening could be considered sooner rather than later.”
