From a situation of two routes just a few years back, ferry customers from Ireland to France are going to be spoilt for choice in 2014
LD Lines have just announced the launch of a new passenger and freight ferry service between Rosslare and St Nazaire. Similarly to Brittany Ferries, the company also offers the choice of continuing to Spain on one of their ships – to the Spanish port of Gijón in this case.
The new service is due to begin in less than a month’s time – on the 7th of January 2014. It will add to the year-round Rosslare-Cherbourg service from Celtic Link Ferries, the April-October Cork-Roscoff service from Brittany Ferries and the Rosslare-Roscoff, Rosslare-Cherbourg and the new Dublin-Cherbourg services from Irish Ferries.
Irish Transport and Tourism Minister Leo Varadkar hailed the latest addition, saying that it was “a very welcome announcement and provides a valuable new landbridge from France and Spain into Ireland.”
Already the rival companies are rolling out great offers, with plenty of great value from all the operators available for early bookers.
The new service will depart Rosslare on Fridays at 21:00 ; depart St.Nazaire to Gijón on Saturdays at 22:00 ; return from Gijón on Tuesdays at 22:00 ; depart St.Nazaire to Rosslare on Wednesdays at 23:59 with an arrival time in Rosslare on Thursdays at 21:15.
Christophe Santoni, CEO of LD Lines commented, “The new service will offer a value-for-money direct route between Ireland, France and Spain and in addition to making European destinations more accessible, will give the tourism and freight markets greater choice.”
LD Lines is part of the Louis Dreyfus Armateurs group, whose headquarters are in Suresne, a subburb of Paris.
