Brittany Ferries confirms new weekly sailing on Rosslare-Cherbourg route

Brittany Ferries will add a third weekly return-sailing, connecting Rosslare with Cherbourg, starting Monday, 29th of April next. The company says the move will boost connectivity ahead of the arrival of its rail-ferry service in 2025. Ferroutage will link Bayonne with Cherbourg by rail, carrying trailers for onward transport by ferry.

Speaking at the announcement, Glenn Carr, Director Commercial Business Units Iarnród Éireann/ Irish Rail & Port Authority Rosslare Europort said:  “We are delighted to see our shipping partner Brittany Ferries further increase services at Rosslare Europort”

 As we continue to significantly invest in facilities and infrastructure at the port it is great to see additional new services being introduced that further strengthens our links and connectivity between Ireland and France. The addition of a third weekly rotation from Cherbourg is great news for hauliers and logistics companies,” said Christophe Mathieu CEO Brittany Ferries. “It means even more opportunity for freight operators to by-pass the UK entirely, cutting down on bureaucracy and delays that can occur the UK border.”

Rosslare Europort is Irelands number one port for direct freight and passenger services to the EU. Along with 58 weekly UK services, the port now also operates over 34 services to and from Rosslare to Bilboa, Cherbourg, Dunkirk and Zeebrugge and is the only port in Europe to have the 3 largest RoRo brands operating services collectively from the one location.

The port continues to see increase growth and demand with a focus on delivering port infrastructure and services that supports Ireland's Exporters, Importers, Tourism and Energy Renewable industries. The largest ever infrastructure investment is currently under construction at the port which will see significant upgrades, to passenger, freight, security, border control, storage and future Offshore Renewable Energy facilities.

Brittany Ferries has massively grown the direct Ireland-France market since 2021 and has reaffirmed its freight and passenger traffic commitment. In two years, freight volumes on France to Ireland routes has grown by 96% from 3,808 in 2021 to 7,734 units last year. Passenger traffic has also been boosted by 412% (a fourfold increase) from 28,584 in 2021 to 146,351 last year.

The service will leave Cherbourg at 18:20 local time on Monday, arriving at Rosslare at 14:00 on Tuesday. It will then depart Rosslare at 18:00 destined for arrival in Cherbourg on Wednesday at 17:00.

Brittany Ferries has chartered Condor’s ferry the Commodore Clipper for the service, which will also include additional sailings to and from Portsmouth. The Clipper will be chartered to the company for around half the week: the other half it will continue to be used by Condor to serve the Channel Islands.

In addition to three weekly rotations linking Rosslare with Cherbourg, Brittany Ferries operates two weekly Cork-Roscoff round trips and a bi-weekly service from Rosslare to Bilbao.