P&O Ferry Routes and Service Information
P&O Ferries was formerly known as P&O European Ferries. The company is owned by DP World who took over P&O Ferries parent company, the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, in March 2006. P&O Ferries is registered in Dover, Kent. P&O Ferries also operates a number of routes in the Irish Sea under the name P&O Irish Sea.
P&O Ferries offers travellers outstanding value and efficiency. Whether you are travelling to the continent for business or as part of a family holiday, sea travel provides a far more relaxing and liberating alternative to the grim prospect of a stressful airport. You can load your car with all your home comforts and avoid all those long queues that have come to be associated with modern air travel. |
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P&O Ferries Current Routes Information
Dover – Calais
P&O Ferries currently operates a fleet of 5 multi-purpose passenger ferries and 2 freight only vessel.The MV Pride of Dover and MV Pride of Calais were originally ordered by Townsend Thoresen as purpose-built vessels for the Dover – Calais route. Following the purchase of Townsend Thoresen during construction, they were delivered to P&O European Ferries in 1987 and began operating soon after. They were built by Schichau Unterweser in Bremen-Vegesack, Germany.
Pride of Burgundy, Pride of Canterbury and Pride of Kent were originally ordered as three of four freight vesselss for the Dover – Zeebrugge route with the names European Causeway, European Pathway and European Highway respectively. The Pride of Burgundy was converted mid-construction and entered service in 1993. The European Pathway, European Highway and the fourth vessel European Seaway were completed and entered service with the Dover – Zeebrugge route.
Following the closure of the Dover – Zeebrugge route in 2002, European Pathway and European Highway returned to their builders and were converted to full passenger mode, eventually re-entering service as the Pride of Canterbury and the Pride of Kent. The fourth vessel, European Seaway was transferred to the Dover – Calais route in early 2005 where she still operates as a freight-only replacement to Pride of Provence.Two other ships, Pride of Aquitaine and the Pride of Provence were withdrawn from service as part of the review of P&O Ferries operations announced in September 2004.
On December 17 2007 the Dover fleet was joined by the European Endeavour, a new freight ferry to complement the European Seaway. This ship previously saw service at Dover with Norfolkline as the Midnight Merchant.It was announced on 8 August 2008 that P&O Ferries had placed an €360 million order with STX Europe for two new ships to replace the Pride of Dover and Pride of Calais. The new ships will be 49,000 gross tonnes and 210 metres in length making them the largest ferries on the English Channel. They will also be the first ships on the world to comply with the new SOLAS "Safe Return to Port" requirements.[1] The first of the new ships is scheduled to be delivered in December 2010 and the second in September 2011. The construction of the first vessel begun on 3 March 2009 at STX Europe's shipyard in Rauma, Finland.
Hull – Rotterdam
Previously known as P&O North Sea Ferries, and before as North Sea Ferries, the Kingston upon Hull to Rotterdam route is taken by P&O's flagships of the ferry fleet, sister ships Pride of Hull and Pride of Rotterdam. Before, it was ran by Norsea and Norsun (before then Norland and Norstar and before then, Norwind and Norwave). Both ships were built in Venice, Italy by Fincantieri's Marghera Shipbuilders, and were delivered to P&O in 2001. Both ships took 14 months to build, have an overall length of 215.1m, a gross tonnage of 59,925t, displacement tonnage of 25,113t and have a service speed of 22 knots. In terms of gross tonnage, these sister ships were the biggest passenger ferries in the world but this title is now held by the 75,100t Color Magic, they are however still the largest passenger ferries to operate from the United Kingdom. Pride of Rotterdam was launched by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands on April 25 2001. Pride of Hull was named on November 30, 2001 by the then British prime Minister's wife Cherie Blair.
Hull – Zeebrugge (Eladdy Belgium)
Also previously known as P&O North Sea Ferries, and before as North Sea Ferries, this route is taken by two older ships, Pride of York (formerly Norsea) and Pride of Bruges (formerly Norsun). This route usually inherits stock transferred from the Hull-Rotterdam route.
Norsun was built in 1987 by NKK, Tsurumi, Japan, for North Sea Ferries. She entered service between Hull-Rotterdam, but following internal rebuilding, transferred to the Hull-Zeebrugge service in 2001 (after Pride of Hull and Pride of Rotterdam entered service), receiving P&O Ferries livery at the same time. In 2003 Norsun was renamed Pride of Bruges, and received the revised P&O colours, along with Pride of York.
Portsmouth to Bilbao Ferries
With departures every three days, for much of the year, we offer the most convenient cruise style crossings to Spain.
Sailing to Bilbao aboard our ferry to Spain is so easy - whether you're camping with your family, surfing with your mates, skiing in the Pyrenees or staying at your holiday home, you can pack as much as you can fit in your car! Our overnight cruise style crossings mean you can enjoy a whole lot more leg room than other modes of transport! The sights can be rather more interesting too - you'll enjoy exhilarating sea views and fresh air as you stroll on the deck of our ferry to Spain.Upon arrival in Spain, you'll have the freedom to drive anywhere on the Continent. Bilbao is an ideal starting point for travelling on to Spain, Southern France and Portugal as it cuts out the long drive through France.
Important information
We regret to advise that we will withdraw from the Portsmouth - Bilbao route at the end of September. Services will operate as scheduled up to and including the Bilbao - Portsmouth departure on Monday 27 September 2010. We will contact passengers booked to travel after this date to suggest alternatives or offer refunds. We are extremely sorry that this will be our last year on the route but despite our most concerted efforts can see no way to make the service financially viable.
P&O Ferries are currently contacting all customers whose sailings have been affected. If you have any queries please call our contact centre on 08716 642 642.
P&O Ferries Routes no Longer in Operation
Portsmouth – Ouistreham (Caen)
Operated for one season between April and October 2004 using the Incat 91 model catamaran Max Mols from Mols Linien, trading under the name "Caen Express".On September 28, 2004 P&O Ferries made the announcement that it would shut down all its Portsmouth services, except for Portsmouth–Bilbao. The "Caen Express" was returned to her owner and the "Cherbourg Express" was sent to P&O Irish Sea. The last crossing of Pride of Cherbourg for P&O was on January 14, 2005. The Le Havre service closed on September 30, 2005.
Portsmouth – Le Havre
The route began under Thoresen Car Ferries when they decided a second route from their Southampton base was required to meet growing traffic demand. Using the Viking class ferries, they operated a three-times daily service, sailing in the morning and afternoon (5 hours 30 minutes) and one overnight sailing (eight hours). All three vessels used both the Le Havre route and the shorter Cherbourg route.
In 1967 Normandy Ferries opened their route in competition to Townsend Thoresen, sailing twice daily with one morning and one afternoon sailing (night sailings and cabins were not offered). This now put the two British groups in a three-way competition with French rivals Brittany Ferries. P&O bought out Normandy Ferries becoming P&O Ferries and maintained its twice daily schedule. By 1985, the three-way competition became a head-to-head struggle with Brittany Ferries after P&O sold their services to Townsend Thoresen. In 1987 P&O returned and bought the pioneering Norwegians to form P&O European Ferries.
P&O European Ferries, having bought Townsend Thoresen, continued a three-times daily schedule to Le Havre. The need for bigger ships was in high demand especially due to the Vikings' low passenger and vehicle numbers. In 1991 it was decided that the Mark 1 European class freighters (minus European Gateway) should move to back up the freight side. The back-up fleet went down to two in 1993 with the departure of European Clearway to Rosslare. By 1994 the two remaining Mark 1 European class freighters stayed until the introduction of two German-built vessels, the Pride of Le Havre and the Pride of Portsmouth.
The demand for bigger ships with higher freight and passenger capacity had now been met, the opposite being the less need for back-up. The two remaining Mark 1 European class freighters moved to Ireland in 1995 to back up Pride of Rathlin, a former cross-Channel vessel.The two modern German-built vessels also had higher passenger numbers, which proved more than ideal for a route which had out-grown its previous vessels. They had a five-knot speed advantage over their predecessors which meant the shortest crossing time in good seas was on average 5 hours 10 minutes. The former Scandinavians had almost double the capacity of the Vikings before conversion (1200).
P&O Ferries closed its route to Le Havre in late September 2005. Pride of Portsmouth (formerly Olau Britannia) and Pride of Le Havre (ex Olau Hollandia) were laid up in Falmouth until January 2006 when they left for their new owners SNAV in Italy. The were renamed SNAV Lazio and SNAV Sardegna respectively and now operate from Civitavecchia to Palermo, in Sicily.
LD Lines now operates a one-ship service following the removal of the Norman Voyager, from Portsmouth to Le Havre with theNorman Spirit. Norman Spirit was formerly P&O's Pride of Aquitaine (ex PO Aquitaine, P&OSL Aquitaine, Stena Royal and Prins Filip).The Bilbao route was launched in 1993 using the Pride of Bilbao (formerly Olympia). It is the only surviving P&O route out of Portsmouth.Pride of Bilbao was probably the biggest vessel in Cherbourg at the time of her Cabaret Cruises. She has more than double the capacity of the unconverted Viking twins previously sold.
Portsmouth – Cherbourg
The route began under Thoresen Car Ferries in 1965 with the revolutionary 'Viking' class fleet of ferries. P&O European Ferries took over in 1987 with two Mark 2 Viking class vessels, Pride of Cherbourg (formerly the Viking Voyager) and Pride of Winchester (formerly the Viking Viscount) and remained in operation until 1994 when they were replaced by the two 'Super Vikings', the Pride of Cherbourg (formerly the Pride of Le Havre and the Viking Valiant) and the Pride of Hampshire (formerly the Viking Venturer) which served the route until their eventual replacement by Pride of Cherbourg (formerly the Isle of Innisfree) of Irish Ferries in 2002.
The conventional route ran 3 times a day under Townsend Thoresen and later P&O, with two day sailings (morning and mid-afternoon) running 5 hours and one overnight sailing running 8 or 9 hours. From 2002, the new vessel ran twice daily, sailing in the morning (4 hrs 45 mins) and the evening (5 hrs 45 mins), with shorter night sailings as she was faster but had less capacity. On Friday night 'Cabaret Cruises' the Viking class vessels were assisted (since 1993) by the larger Pride of Bilbao, with capacity for 2500.
Additionally, between 1998 and 2004 a three times daily FastCat service (3 hours) ran between Portsmouth and Cherbourg, which initially began between 1998 and 2000 on Superstar Express, which was chartered from Star Cruises. In 2000 the Superstar Express was replaced by Catalonia which was chartered from Buquebus and traded under the name of "Portsmouth Express" until 2002. For her 2003 season she was painted in standard P&O Ferries livery and her trading name was shortened to "Express" with her official name becoming Catalonia A. In her final season in 2004, the vessel was officially renamed Express but adopted the trading name "Cherbourg Express".
Following the announcement of the 2004 P&O Ferries business review, the Portsmouth - Cherbourg fastcat service ceased operation in October 2004 and the ferry route closed in January 2005. It is was run solely by P&O's rival company Brittany Ferries until October 2009 when Celtic Link began operating a daily service on the route. |
