Ferry firm will not treat staff in P&O fashion

DEBT TO REPAY BUT MORALS MATTER FOR FRENCH OUTFIT

- WILLIAM TELFORD

CROSS-CHANNEL operator Brittany Ferries has seen bookings recover following two years of Covid-19 disruption, but it is still wrestling with a Brexit hangover and a €120 million loan repayment.

The French-owned company, which has its UK base at Millbay, said bookings are good, particularly on longer routes such as from Plymouth to Spain, but the number of French visitors to Britain has fallen since Brexit and the company has had to cut costs to deal with Covid-related losses, including a €120 million loan.

It is tackling the issues by increasing efficiency and cutting jobs via natural wastage, and is insisting it will not follow rival P&O Ferries and go for a lowcost model which sees seafarers replaced with cheap agency staff.

Christophe Mathieu, chief executive of Brittany Ferries, said he was “not unsatisfied" with booking numbers for summer 2022. He said they were particularly good on longer routes such as from Ireland to France and Spain and the UK to Spain, but he revealed there had been a post-Brexit slump in the numbers of French visitors to the UK.