The following was taken from their website this morning.
Sailing updates
Travel updates and latest sailing information
Brittany Ferries services resumed
Update - Monday 1st October
We are pleased to announce that industrial action is over and services will resume on Tuesday afternoon.
Please accept our sincere apologies if you were one of the many who suffered disruption to travel plans during the industrial dispute.
The following services will operate on Tuesday 2nd October
Route Departure
Poole to Cherbourg 15:30
Roscoff to Plymouth 15:45
Caen to Portsmouth 16:30
Portsmouth to Santander 17:00
Portsmouth to St Malo 20:15
Cherbourg to Poole 20:00
Plymouth to Roscoff 22:00
Portsmouth to Caen 22:45
Caen to Portsmouth 23:00
If you are already booked on any of the above sailings you do not need to do anything. Please check-in at the port as normal.
If you are not, please ensure you book with us prior to arriving at the port as space on these sailings may be limited.
Cancelled sailing
We have had to cancel the Portsmouth to Santander departure at 11:00 on Wednesday 3rd October as the ship is out of position.
The crew/staff voted to return to work over the weekend ( 59% in favour against 41% )
Lets hope that’s an end to it and that they haven’t lost too many customers, especially the freight companies sending unaccompanied trailers and hauliers, from both sides of the channel which is where they make a lot of their money in the winter seasons
Well lets see, word has it that BF are in financial difficulties and may not last the winter. We came back last week on LD lines and I think they may have gained a lot of freight customers through the strike/lockout, Norbert must have had 25 on there and Jean-Luc Landais had a good 10 on there and they have always used BF and have a compound behind the garage in Cherbourg to store drop trailers to go on the boats, maybe another lost customer.
I guess it’s more cost effective to lay the ferries up rather than run them at a loss this time of year. Given that if you strike you don’t get paid. I’m thinking BF were more than happy to sit it out and wait for the unions to blink first and were quite content to suspend all sailings and save a few bob short term. They have the monopoly on western channel routes so they will easily regain all the trade they lost in the short term.
Looks like the workers ran out of money long before the ferry company did.
Yes SL as of 26/9 DFDS have an 80% share in LD and LD retain 20% , thats on the whole company ,not just Dover /Calais, they say they are going to reinforce all routes including St Nazaire /Gijon ,but also open new routes , if BF are shaky as reported this will not help.
I may be wrong but i was under the impression that the French goverment were part owners of Brittany ferries ■■ cant remember where
i read it or someone told me ■■
As for LD taking any work from Brittany,they will of no doubt of had some companies swap over to them,depending on where you are
heading the other side.However i shipped out on it on Thursday the 27th of September and it was supposed to sail at 2300 hrs and i didnt drive
on it till 1.00am Friday morning which was bloody diabolical as it arrived on time at Portsmouth so dont know why there was such a delay ■■
Also not the most driver friendly boat as you have to turn around on it and drive off the way you loaded ?
Brittany Ferries is a co-operative owned by a selection of people and businesses of Brittany.
As for LD. DFDS have only just taken over. And in my opinion wherever DFDS operate they really mean business, unlike LD. So if I was running Brittany Ferries I’d be afraid, very afraid. A company like DFDS could sink Brittany with their eyes closed. Which would be a shame as I do like Brittany Ferries. But in Northern Europe in my opinion there are only two really serious companies that you can guarantee will be around in 10 years time, Stena and DFDS. Both know the ferry business like no other (Irish Ferries will still be around as one of europes most profitable operators but they are not in the same league). And both look at the long term and build routes, which was always LDs problem, far too impaitent.
The service lucky dip offer out of Portsmouth to lehavre is nothing short of a joke and not a very funny joke most of the times . late departures ,4 drivers to a cabin are regular treats for drivers a have to use this crossing . Lucky dip also run the Newhaven to Dieppe crossing and i much prefer to use that crossing 4 hour crossing and normally on time job done .
With Brittany on strike last week I used Dover Calais for the west France run and I enjoyed it more the using Brittany. I’ve stated before I HATE sharing a cabin.
I really like using the Dover Dunkirk dfds ferries and will be on it tonight. Nice ships and excellent facility’s and staff seem nice enough.
According to crew members I spoke to over the weekend the strike itself was only for 24 hours. However Brittany Ferries management decided that until crew members accepted their terms then they would tie up all their vessels indefinitely. In other words they were prepared to starve the striking crews out of their jobs and if necessary go out of business. You can rest assured that this is far from over, the feeling amongst the crews towards management is not good.
i was caught up in the strike couple of weeks ago.
each year i go down the algarve on my bike for a few weeks and get the plymouth-santander ferry. on the last day of our holiday, me and the wife were getting ready to go out and i got a text from brittany ferries telling me the ferry was cancelled and to make my way to calais.
it was a bit of a shock but stayed down a couple more days then rode up to calais, staying in bayonne the first night and made it home (to durham) the second night. (welcome to the iron ■■■■ club-1000 miles in 24 hours)
anyway i’d had the money refunded onto my credit card plus £200 for the extra travel expenses incurred going to calais. now today a cheque arrived in the post this morning for £200 for travel expenses so it looks like i’ve hit lucky and they’ve paid out twice. happy days.
The compensation to travelers already booked ( and I would think hauliers and transport companies too ) must have cost them somewhat.
I was already booked to come over to England, Caen/Portsmouth when they decided to park up the fleet and they offered me a re-booking if I wanted, at a later date, or failing that a free crossing with MyFerry or P&O, (Calais/Dover route). Nothing to pay, just turn up and go, showing the BF booking reference, they then said that my actual BF fare would be refunded in full and they would give me £50 towards the cost of getting to Calais, which I duly received into my bank account within a week.
It must’ve been a logistic nightmare for the booking staff. Foot passengers that were already booked and wanted to travel, were bussed from the French/English ports to Dover/Calais, then on arrival they were then bussed to their actual port of arrival.
It is a shame to read this,i have used BF for many years,even when the drivers meals were free,excellent food and clean cabins,as long as i was not sharing with a snorer or a smelly tramp with a soap dodger.
Raymundo may know the history if they were set up buy a Co-op of local farmers nor not?
1970s and 1980s
Following the provision of the deep-water port at Roscoff, the company commenced in January 1973 at the instigation of Alexis Gourvennec, when existing ferry companies showed reluctance in providing a service from Roscoff to Plymouth. The company began sailings between Roscoff in Brittany and Plymouth in the South West of England using the freight ferry Kerisnel. The company’s primary aim at that time was to provide a service to Brittany’s cauliflower and artichoke farmers giving them easier access to the British market. In summer 1973, Vedettes Armoricaines operated a service between Plymouth and Roscoff using the passenger only ferry Poseidon which they had acquired from Stena Line; Brittany Ferries acted as UK agents for this service.[1] Kerisnel was replaced in 1974 by Penn-Ar-Bed which also carried passengers and their vehicles. Such was the success of the Plymouth-Roscoff service a larger ship, the Cornouailles, was ordered and entered service in 1977. New routes commenced throughout the 1970s, and the company continued to grow. The Saint-Malo, Santander and Cork routes were operated by the Armorique and Prince of Brittany. In the early 1980s a second ship was chartered for the Saint-Malo route. The Goelo was an attractive-looking vessel, but left the fleet in preparation for the new ship to be introduced in 1982. The Quiberon replaced the Armorique on the Santander and Cork services, allowing her to operate alongside the Prince of Brittany on the Saint-Malo route. The Cornouailles maintained the original Roscoff route.
That’s cheating
If I remember rightly, when I was a kid, going to my gran’s in Dinard for the summer holidays. When they had built the barrage across the river Rance , they stopped the little vedettes ferries that went in between Dinard and St Malo and St. Servan. Obviously all the crews lost there jobs and they were part of the start of the St. Malo to Portsmouth crews
