At the end of March they had to go back to sea. Four of the Brittany Ferris ships providing connections between Saint-Malo and Portsmouth (England) or Roskoff and Cork (Ireland) will finally be docked until mid-May. The shipping company, which has been hit hard by the health crisis and Brexit, announced on Wednesday that it was delaying the resumption of passenger connections.

The decision “undermines restrictions imposed on both sides of the channel by restricting it to essential journeys”, underlined Brittany Ferris. However, the company makes it clear that the other ships on board will continue to operate as originally planned to meet the essential needs of passengers and allow freight to be delivered freely.

Last year, the company borrowed 117 million euros

“We remain very optimistic about the increase in immunization rates, which will be a key factor in allowing safe travel again,” said Christophe Mathew, chairman of the board of management.

In 2020, Brittany Ferris, the leading employer of the French sailors with twelve ships, obtained a loan of 117 million euros from French banks, “allowing it to go through the most critical period ever.” The company, with a turnover of 469 million euros in 2019, carried 25 million passengers, 87% of whom were British.