Mr. Christophe Mathieu:

Brittany Ferries has been sailing once a week between Roscoff and Cork since 1978. We completely changed our views two years ago regarding the potential of Ireland. We originally operated a route between Cork and Santander twice a week but we have now moved it from Cork to Rosslare and from Santander to Bilbao because we were slightly disappointed by the volumes at the beginning. There was also a security issue in Santander relating to migrants. We currently operate the service twice a week between Rosslare and Bilbao.

For the information of the committee, the service has a potential capacity of 20,000 pieces of freight per year. In recent weeks, we have seen a surge in demand for the service, which is very pleasing. We have gone from an average of 30 to 35 units per departure to well over 60 units. There is capacity for up to 110 units. It is very pleasing that Irish and Spanish hauliers are starting to use that service, which we opened two years ago in preparation for Brexit and the issues with the land bridge. Complementary to this service, on the Ireland-France connection, with the same vessels that operate on the Rosslare-Bilbao route, we will operate a service between Rosslare and Cherbourg. That comes in addition to Stena Line and Irish Ferries services on the route. In 2021 we will deploy another ship, the Armorique, to travel between Cork and Roscoff, which will provide further freight capacity.

In a nutshell, Brittany Ferries will go from historically having one passenger service crossing per week on the Pont-Avento having five departures per week in 2021 with much more freight capacity. If my mathematics are correct, these services will be able to transport up to the equivalent of 30,000 freight units out of Ireland and directly to France or Spain. Brittany Ferries identified there was a business case for the service, as did my colleagues in DFDS, Stena Line and Irish Ferries. We recognise it is very important for Ireland to have these direct connections to the Continent. Cobelfret has also has reinforced its capacity out of Ireland. I fully understand that there is nervousness because there will still be some requirement to go across the UK and the land bridge. However, the ferry industry has seriously developed its capacity out of Ireland. There is still room for more freight. For example, we are averaging 60 to 65 units per departure on our route to Spain but there is room to go to 100 units. Of course, we will all be watching very carefully in January and February as things unfold and Brexit becomes a reality. We will adapt upwards if there is demand for more capacity. Those are my comments at this stage regarding Brittany Ferries and our recent development of routes out of Ireland.