Brittany Ferries has no immediate plans to carry livestock trucks on its new service from Ireland to Spain, announced this week, the Irish Farmers Journal understands.

The new ferry, which will sail twice weekly from Cork to Santander from the end of April, could offer a potentially important export route for Irish cattle direct to Spain, if Brittany Ferries was to seek approval to carry livestock.

With export capacity to fall on the current Ireland to France ferry route, exporters would welcome the chance to send some animals direct to Spain, reducing the demand on the Rosslare-Cherbourg route.

Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed, speaking at the IFA annual general meeting on Tuesday, indicated that the Department of Agriculture is working on a solution to the reduced calf export capacity caused by the Stena Horizon being docked for four weeks for service.

Minister Creed said the Department “is conscious on issues that live exports face going into the calving season – calf exports and ship availability. “We're working through the issues as best we can.”

Brittany Ferries, which was set up by a group of French farmers in the early 1970s to carry agricultural freight, already operates a separate ferry boat twice weekly from Cork to Roscoff, aimed at serving holidaymakers and carrying a limited numbers of freight trucks.

However, the boat chartered to serve the new Santander route has more capacity for freight lorries. It is being chartered from Stena Ro Ro and will be called the Connemara.

Brittany Ferries said the new boat will carry approximately 500 passengers with space for 195 cars.

“It has 2,225 lane metres of garage space and Brittany Ferries expects a fifty-fifty split between passengers and freight carried,” it said.

A spokesperson for the company said that none of the ships in the Brittany Ferries fleet carry livestock trucks.

Read more

Calf exporters keen for bigger numbers

Creed ‘open to’ €200 suckler cow scheme after 2020

IFA AGM: challenges remain for Irish farming in 2018