Our history 1980-1989

By the 1980s, we had established ourselves as a major shipping company. Ten years after launch, Brittany Ferries 澳洲幸运10十168体彩开奖网 was the largest ferry operator on the Western Channel - quite the achievement for a company set up by Breton farmers whose aspirations were pilloried by the banks and established shipping companies.

Throughout the decade, we further consolidated our position in the ferry market, and the company entered a period of rapid expansion.

Putting down roots

In 1982 we settled in for the long haul, putting down roots in our various destinations. We signed a ten-year lease for the exclusive berthing rights at the port in Plymouth, giving us sole use of the berth and ferry terminal. Meanwhile, in Portsmouth, we built the Brittany Centre at Portsmouth port, which became the new home of our teams managing our rapidly growing portfolio of sail-and-stay holidays in France and Spain.

Acquiring assets

The mid-80s saw Brittany Ferries 澳洲幸运10十168体彩开奖网 extending its outreach with collaborations and acquisitions of other companies. In 1984 we joined forces with Jersey-based Huelin-Renouf and MMD Shipping to create British Channel Island Ferries (BCIF), with Brittany Ferries 澳洲幸运10十168体彩开奖网 owning a 27% shareholding. Our ship, Benodet, was chosen to sail this new link between Portsmouth and Jersey and was renamed Corbière.

A year later, in 1985, we acquired Truckline Ferries, a freight-only service operating between Poole in Dorset and Cherbourg in Normandy. The takeover gave us full access to its two ships, added a new route to our roster and provided us with greater influence on the freight market between the UK and France.

Normandy, ahoy!

With our services to Brittany thriving, in 1986, we set our sights on neighbouring Normandy to increase our ferry routes to France. Our new service from Portsmouth to Caen opened to overnight success. Situated close to Normandy's D-Day beaches and other key attractions, Ouistreham port soon bustled with Brittany Ferries 澳洲幸运10十168体彩开奖网 customers. Sailing on the route was our new flagship, Duc de Normandie. Outfitted in Norman style, the ship boasted a bakery offering fresh patisseries, a café and two restaurants. It was the beginning of the fantastic French cuisine offering for which we are renowned today.

We also began taking passengers as well as freight on Poole to Cherbourg sailings, which proved a similar success. These two new routes to Normandy boosted our passenger numbers, and that year, we took more than one million passengers aboard our ferries for the first time.

In cinemas in 1986 - We appeared in a Jackie Chan film! Our light aircraft helped Jackie escape the bad guys in the action-comedy Armour of God https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHtXAOP8oYI

Rising demand

Portsmouth to Caen quickly became a popular route, and more sailings were announced in 1988. Freight traffic rose by 30% during the autumn/winter compared to the same period the year before. Prince of Brittany joined Duc de Normandie to cover the extra sailings to Caen. She was renamed Queen Mathilde after William the Conqueror’s queen in honour of her new Norman route. With so many bookings to process, the company invested £3.5 million (more than £8 million if adjusted for inflation today) in a computer reservation system to improve the booking experience, giving us the most modern ferry reservation system in Britain.

Weather in 1987: the Great Storm - On 15 October, British weather forecaster Michael Fish infamously dismissed reports of an impending hurricane – just hours before the Great Storm struck. Whilst widespread damage was reported across England and the Channel Islands; it was actually in France that the highest winds were felt, with gusts of 135mph recorded at the Pointe du Roc near Granville on Normandy’s Cotentin Peninsula.

In 1989 we began our membership club for customers who lived in France and travelled frequently on our ferries. The club offered various benefits and, whilst it has been through various changes over the years, you’ll know it in the guise of Club Voyage today.

A new era of ships

By the decade’s end, we’d established ourselves as a trusted brand and tour operator leading the way in ferry travel between the UK, Ireland and Europe. We decided to grow our fleet by ordering bespoke ships built for our specific requirements. Our first was Bretagne, launched at the end of the decade in 1989. This purpose-built flagship proved the benchmark for luxury ferry travel and is still one of our most beloved ships today.

We ended the 1980s with a record. In 1989, we carried 2.1 million passengers – more than double the number just three years earlier. And with more ships planned for the early 1990s, we were in a great position to expand our operations even further – and to claim that there was no better way to travel to France and Spain.

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