Brittany Ferries ferries

Brittany Ferries

Brittany Ferries began as a farmers' idea. In 1972 a group of Breton growers, led by Alexis Gourvennec, created BAI, short for Brittany–England–Ireland, to get their vegetables to British markets, and the company started operating the following year from Roscoff. Passengers soon followed the produce. Today the company is still headquartered in Roscoff, with its British base in Portsmouth, and its name is a good guide to where it sails: Brittany and Normandy on one side of the Channel, Plymouth and Portsmouth on the other, with longer overnight crossings from the UK to Santander and Bilbao in northern Spain and from Roscoff to Cork.

The ships are very much part of the experience. Many of the larger vessels, such as the Pont-Aven, the Armorique and the Mont St Michel, are cruise-style ferries with cabins, restaurants and decks to spend a night on, so the crossing is part of the holiday rather than a way of getting to it. In 2020 Brittany Ferries became a minority shareholder in Condor Ferries, the Channel Islands operator, and in September 2024 it raised its stake to 51% and took operational control, since which the Channel Islands services have been moving under the Brittany Ferries name.