Brittany Ferries has launched its seasonal Rosslare/Roscoff service sailing from the County Wexford port each Monday evening at 23.30, arriving in Roscoff at 15.30 local time on Tuesday before leaving again at 19.00 and docking back at Rosslare at 08.00 on Wednesday. The Ro-Pax Kerry, which operates this service, then sails on a twice weekly Rosslare/Bilbao service, with sailings ex Rosslare on Wednesday morning and Friday evening. The Kerry has 2040 lane metres freight capacity and can accommodate up to 1,000 passengers. Brittany Ferries has also re-opened its summer weekly Cruise Ferry service linking Cork with Roscoff.
Roscoff, in North-West France is Brittany Ferries home port and, in addition to the Irish services the ompany operates from there to Plymouth. It Is located close to the port city of Brest, while truck drivers going south join the autoroute network at Nantes. In previous years freight capacity on board the ferries from Ireland has been severely limited mainly due to the major two-way tourist traffic on the route. In 2020 this traffic will be greatly reduced, and the line expects to carry significant freight traffic.
In addition to Brittany Ferries new Roscoff route and its twice weekly Bilbao, Stena Line sail three times weekly from Rosslare to Cherbourg and twice daily to Fishguard, Irish Ferries sail twice daily to Pembroke and Neptune Line includes Rosslare in a weekly Santander/Zeebrugge loop.
Irish Ferries operated a schedule out of Rosslare for several years sailing to Cherbourg three times weekly and a once weekly seasonal service to Roscoff. At the end of the 2018 summer season the Roscoff link closed and the route vessel Oscar Wilde was sold. The Company now serves Cherbourg from Dublin and, from 6 July has moved to its summer schedule of seven round-trip voyages each fortnight.
The start of the Roscoff service from Rosslare coincided with the launch by Irish Rail of their new Masterplan for the facility which greatly enhance facilities both within the Port and the surrounding areas. Howard Knott