Brittany Ferries confirms midweek sailing from Cork to France to be made permanent

Brittany Ferries vessel Armorique departs from Cork for Roscoff passing Cobh on its weekly journey. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Brittany Ferries confirmed that its recently launched midweek ferry from Cork to France will become a permanent feature of the company’s sailing schedule.

Although this Wednesday sailing connection is part of a new three-year deal signed by the Port of Cork Company and Brittany Ferries, this commercial partnership between both companies has lasted over four decades.

“These investments from the Port of Cork and from Brittany Ferries are symbols of optimism, ambition and celebrate the long-awaited ability for people both in Ireland and France to enjoy renewed freedom after such a challenging two-year period,” said Port of Cork Company chief executive Eoin McGettigan.

The new sailing has the potential to generate €4.3m from a tourism perspective to the local economy, according to Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons.

“France is one of our top four markets for Irish tourism and in 2019, we welcomed 557,000 visitors from France to the island of Ireland, whose visits delivered €283m to the economy. We are rolling out an extensive programme of promotional activity in France throughout 2022,” said Mr Gibbons.

The new overnight weekly Roscoff M.V. Armorique sailing, which is additional to the popular Pont Aven, the flagship of the Brittany Ferries fleet which sails on Saturdays to Roscoff, enhances the options for passengers.

“While the last two years have been difficult for us all, I am delighted to be in a position to confirm that this year our early bookings are up by over 35% on 2019 which was our last "normal" year due to Covid,” said Brittany Ferries president Jean-Marc Roué.