On Monday 19th July Brittany Ferries’ ro-pax ferry Cap Finistère (CruiseMapper) returned to service on the company’s Portsmouth to Bilbao route. The restart follows an extended six-month break in the ship’s sailings forced by coronavirus travel restrictions and consequent drop in freight and passenger demand.
But now demand is returning, and the first Cap Finistère sailing of 2021 departed Portsmouth for Bilbao at 17:00 on Monday 19th July. The ship will offer three weekly round trips linking the UK and Spanish ports, with a range of sailing times designed with hauliers in mind. These include popular weekend departures leaving Portsmouth on Saturday lunchtimes and departing Bilbao on Sunday afternoons – thereby getting around weekend driving bans in France.
Cap Finistère’s homecoming marks a welcome return to full capacity and service frequency on Brittany Ferries’ UK to Spain routes. Altogether four ships (including the company’s newest and largest freight carrying vessel Galicia) will link five ports: Portsmouth, Poole and Plymouth in South UK and, Santander and Bilbao in northern Spain.
In total there will now be nine weekly southbound sailings and nine weekly northbound sailings between the UK and Iberian Peninsula.