Manche Iles Express ferries

Manche Iles Express

Manche Iles Express has run since 2005 on the initiative of the French département of La Manche, which wanted direct sailings between the Cotentin coast and the Channel Islands. The département owns the two fast ferries, the Victor Hugo, built in Norway in 1997, and the Granville, built in Singapore in 2007, and has invested an estimated 20 million euros in the service since it began.

The routes run from three small Norman ports, Granville to the south and Barneville-Carteret and Diélette to the north, to Jersey, Guernsey, Sark and Alderney, depending on the tide and the season. The company's busiest year was 2019, with 110,000 passengers.

The pandemic brought a long interruption: sailings were suspended in spring 2021 and resumed in 2022 under a new operator that kept the Manche Iles Express name. In early 2025 Jersey, Guernsey and Sark agreed to contribute £300,000 to keep the service going, a sign of how much the islands value a direct link with Normandy.