MV ''Barfleur'' is a

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

operated by Brittany Ferries on the route between

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

on the south coast of England and

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

, France. She was built at

Masa Yards STX Finland Oy, formerly Aker Yards Oy, was a Finnish shipbuilding company operating three shipyards in Finland, in Turku, Helsinki and Rauma, employing some 2,500 people. It was part of STX Europe, a group of international shipbuilding companie ...

Turku New Shipyard in Finland for the Brittany Ferries subsidiary '' Truckline'' and entered service in 1992. In 1999 she was repainted in Brittany Ferries standard livery. ''Barfleur'' was the last ship to carry the 1983–2002 version of the Brittany Ferries logo and livery which was replaced by the post-2002 version in March 2009. She sails under the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

flag and is registered in Cherbourg. Excluding the HSC Normandie Express and RoRo cargo vessels, she is the smallest passenger vessel in Brittany Ferries' fleet. From 27 April 2012 until December that year, she was in service with DFDS Seaways who had renamed her as ''Deal Seaways'' to ensure she had the same initials as their other ships, all DS. She was used on their joint

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

–

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

route with LD Lines.

Withdrawal and temporary return to service, 2010–2011

On 19 December 2009 Brittany Ferries announced that they would be withdrawing ''Barfleur'' from its service between Poole and Cherbourg. They claimed to have been losing money on the service for quite some time. After completing her last trip in February 2010 ''Barfleur'' was laid up in the canal near to

The French press reported on 23 March 2012 that the ship had been acquired by LD Lines/ DFDS Seaways for their joint

–

service where she would be put into service starting on 27 April. Announcements from Brittany Ferries and

DFDS DFDS is a Danish international shipping and logistics company. It is the busiest shipping company of its kind in Northern Europe and one of the busiest in Europe. The company's name is an abbreviation of Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab (literally ...

confirmed that Barfleur was to be chartered by the DFDS/LD Lines joint venture. DFDS renamed her as ''Deal Seaways'' to ensure she had the same initials as their other ships, all DS. ''Deal Seawayss charter was scheduled to end in February 2013 and Brittany Ferries announced that would be renaming her ''Barfleur'', bringing her back into service. DFDS/LD Lines therefore sought a new vessel and managed to charter ex , which had been acquired by Scapino Shipping Ltd after SeaFrance's liquidation. ''Molière'' was renamed as and joined the Dover/Calais fleet on 7 November 2012 leaving ''Deal Seaways'' out of service. ''Deal Seaways'' proceeded to

Dunkerque Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Bilbao, also starting on the same date. The ''Barfleur'' re-commenced overnight services between Cherbourg and Poole in November 2013, on a Tuesday and a Wednesday in place of the usual evening service. These overnight sailings were also repeated in 2014 except during the peak summer period. The ''Barfleur'' was laid up for the winter period with the last sailing from Poole being on Wednesday 31 January 2018 but returned to service on 4 March 2018.

Routes served

2013 onwards

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:Commencing on 19 March 2013, ''Barfleur'' has run between Poole and Cherbourg, a short sailing of approximately hours each way. There was a winter break from 1 January to 3 March 2018.

1992–2012

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:Due to a massive increase in passenger numbers on the Poole–Cherbourg route in 1991, ''Barfleur'' was lengthened by 19 metres during construction. This increased passenger and freight capacity as well as adding a number of additional cabins. But sources working on this project talk about stability issues and the addition of a section of 7.2 meters or 9 meters (?). :Until 27 February 2007 ''Barfleur'' was the largest ship ever to use Poole Harbour. then held this title until the arrival of the , after covering for ''Barfleur''s unscheduled 2007 refit. * Portsmouth–

: March–November 2005 :''Barfleur'' operated one round trip Tuesday to Sunday in 2005 in place a Poole round trip. This regular Portsmouth conventional service was unsuccessful and has not been repeated. ''Barfleur'' has also served on Portsmouth–

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Ouistreham Ouistreham () is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy region in northwestern France. Ouistreham is a small port with fishing boats, leisure craft and a ferry harbour. It serves as the port of the city of Caen. The town borders the mo ...

) where she acted as refit cover for and . During the winter seasons of 1997 and 1998 ''Barfleur'' operated between

and

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

at weekends and made the crossing in 28 hours. As a result of major engine problems with ''Val de Loire'' in September 2000, ''Barfleur'' operated between

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

and Roscoff for two round trips before moving to Portsmouth–

) in place of . Barfleur's place at Poole was taken by ''MV Purbeck''. On rare occasions ''Barfleur'' has also operated routes not usually undertaken by Brittany Ferries:- *

–

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

dockworkers in October 2002. *

– Roscoff As a result of the previously mentioned strike a round trip to Roscoff was undertaken in October 2002 to facilitate a crew change. This route was repeated between 23 and 26 May 2008 due to a blockade of Cherbourg by French fishermen. *

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Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

In December 2005 ''Barfleur'' was chartered by Victor Treacy International for a one off freight-only crossing to help clear a buildup of freight caused by a strike at Irish Ferries.

Accidents

On 16 July 2014 at 6:26am the ferry collided with a chain of the chain ferry crossing Poole harbour entrance, snapping the chain and causing the chain ferry to be out of action for 2 days. This happened on a previous occasion (believed to be around 1996) when damage to the rudder/propellers occurred. The chain ferry now remains stationary on the Studland side when large shipping is passing through.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barfleur 1991 ships DFDS Ferries of the United Kingdom Ferries of France Ships built in Turku