Brittany Ferries has come a long way. The “leading employer of French sailors” has experienced difficult years, marked, in quick succession, by Brexit and then the Covid-19 epidemic. She now sees her future more “serenely”. At least that was the tone given to the company’s 2025 greetings ceremony, organized on Saturday January 11, at the port of Bloscon, in Roscoff (29).
After a lifting of the Gwenn ha du, hoisted by the President of the Region Loïg Chesnais-Girard, on the rear deck of the brand new “Saint-Malo”, the company’s new hybrid propulsion ferry, the ceremony was opened by Jean- Marc Roué, chairman of the supervisory board of Brittany Ferries.
“Excellence” of the 2024 season
“We bet on our loss when the Channel Tunnel opened, we were declared dead during the subprime crisis, we were buried during the Brexit vote and we were announced to have sunk during the crisis of Covid-19,” he said. But “the second French shipping company and the first national passenger shipping company was able to face and overcome everything,” he rejoiced. A new boom, symbolized by the “excellence” of the 2024 season, which allows Brittany Ferries to “return to the path of growth”.
On the Ouistreham-Portsmouth route, the company welcomed 9.3% more passengers in 2024 compared to 2023. “On the Ireland destination, the results are excellent with 28% more on the Cherbourg – Rosslare line and on Roscoff “, he added. For all destinations from the corsair city, this figure rises to +12% and “even to +18% for the Roscoff-Plymouth line alone”. Results “in line with forecasts which allow us to significantly begin our reduction in debt and approach 2025 with confidence”.
Loss of service to Jersey: the setback
Debt which, at the end of the health crisis, amounted to nearly 200 million euros, and had made it possible to “preserve the employment of our sailors and our sedentary workers in Brittany and Normandy”. The two regions had committed 65 million euros in repayable advances to support the company. Amount that Brittany Ferries was able to fully reimburse “in two years”. “Brittany Ferries is Brittany. Brittany is Brittany Ferries. We were right to support this company and its 2,700 employees,” underlined the President of the Region, Loïg Chesnais-Girard.
