News
Agreement for sale of Brittany Ferries Cap Finistère
Brittany Ferries has confirmed it is in the final stages of negotiation for the sale of Cap Finistère to Italian shipping company GNV. It comes as the Roscoff-based company prepares to welcome its next ship to the fleet. Salamanca will arrive in Bilbao in the next few days, completing her six-week voyage from China.
“Cap Finistère has served us well for the last decade and she will be missed by crew, passengers and freight drivers,” said Christophe Mathieu CEO Brittany Ferries. “She is a fine ship and, I am delighted that GNV will be her new owner. We are now ready to finalise the deal and to bid her a fond farewell.”
Cap Finistère has served Brittany Ferries since 2010. It has taken millions of holiday makers to the beautiful regions of northern Spain. It has also transported thousands of units of freight across the Bay of Biscay.
Her service, alongside ships like Pont-Aven and Galicia have helped boost tourism, enrich regions and cement partnerships that will be continue with the introduction of Salamanca and Santoña this year and in 2023 respectively.
Constructed in 2001, Cap Finistère is 204 m long, with a top speed of 28 knots and is one of the prettiest ferries in operation. She has run Portsmouth to Santander and Portsmouth to Bilbao routes in her time with Brittany Ferries, carrying up to 1,595 passengers or 110 freight units.
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About Brittany Ferries
Brittany Ferries was conceived in 1972, starting life as a freight-only service on 2nd January the following year. The first sailing linked Roscoff in Brittany with Plymouth in the South of England and carried a cargo of artichokes and cauliflowers. Since then the company has progressively launched, then strengthened shipping routes. Today millions of passengers and businesses transporting goods by sea across the so-called Atlantic Arc (France, UK, Spain and Ireland) rely on the links forged through six decades of operation. In addition to cutting congestion and emissions on busy roads, these motorways-of the sea have helped enrich local communities, creating jobs and nurturing international tourism. More details here: https://corporate.brittany-ferries.com/en/press.aspx
Key figures (2020)
Revenue: €202.4 million (€469 million in 2019)
- Fleet renewal: Four new vessels on the horizon, two powered by LNG entering service in 2022 and 2023; two LNG-hybrid powered ships arriving in the years that follow
- Employment: 2,474 employees, including 1,600 seafarers (full-time equivalent)
- Passengers: 752,102 in 2020 (2,498,354 in 2019)
- Freight: 160,377 in 2020 (201,554 in 2019)
- 12 vessels connecting France, the United Kingdom, Spain and Ireland, via 14 maritime routes
- 12 ports: Roscoff, Saint-Malo, Cherbourg, Caen, Le Havre, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Poole, Cork, Rosslare, Santander, Bilbao.
- Tourist impact: 231,000 unique visitors to France, generating 2.6 million overnight stays in 2020 (857,000 in 2019 with 8.7 million overnight stays in 2019)
Press contacts:
Nigel Wonnacott [email protected]
Christopher Jones [email protected]