M/V Armorique (2)

After Cotentin was ordered to STX Finland in October 2005, Brittany Ferries decided in January 2006 to order also a RoPax ferry, sharing her hull with Cotentin ones. She was initially Bretagne 2 and has been designed for service between Roscoff and Plymouth, but she has also been designed to be able to serve all the port the company serves. This new ship was to be the symbol of the modernity of the fleet.

In 2006, Brittany Ferries was in a very good economic condition, with growing traffics on all of its routes, enabling her to order this new ship. However, the company hadn’t decided to built another cruise ferry as it did with Pont Aven.

Her keel was laid on 14th March 2006, that was the beginning of the building of the new ship, that was to last until August 2008. Indeed, she was launched on 10th August, although a lot of works were still to be done. She was eventually delivered on 16th January 2009.

After her sea trials in the Baltic Sea had been completed, Armorique went to the Channel to perform other trials. She berthed for the first time in Plymouth on 28th January 2009, and then had to stay during three days in the port owing to inclement sea conditions. She headed to Brest on 31st January to complete her stocking and to enable her crew to visit her. It was initially scheduled that Armorique's maiden voyage would depart Roscoff, however due to inclement sea conditions, she eventually made her maiden voyage from Plymouth on 10th February. She then went through the summer season without problems.

She was laid up in Le Havre during Winter 2009-2010, due to the decision of Brittany Ferries of not operating the Roscoff – Plymouth service at Winters due to lack of profitability. However, before heading to Le Havre, Armorique went in Cork to perform berthing trials, leaving us thinking of a future on the Irish service. She resumed service on February 2010, ahead of scheduled, when the company decided to laid up Barfleur and to end the Cherbourg-en-Cotentin – Poole service, and Armorique operated the last crossings on the route.

Armorique was at first designed to serve the Roscoff – Plymouth service. However, she has replaced during winters most of the company’s ships, and is currently the only one which has serve all the port of the company. Indeed, she has replaced Barfleur and Cotentin from Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, Mont Saint Michel and Normandie from Ouistreham, Pont Aven from Plymouth / Portsmouth to Santander, Bretagne on the Saint-Malo route and Etretat between Santander, Bilbao, Le Havre and Portsmouth. She has also operated several services on the Plymouth – Saint-Malo route.

Therefore, she is as Bretagne, a ferry which usually replace others when they are not available, since she is capable of berthing in every harbour. However, she remains allocated to the Roscoff – Plymouth service during Summers.

In order to enable her to reach the latest European Standards regarding the rate of sulphur tolerated in the exhausts of the ships, it was planned that Armorique was to be equipped with LNG-powered engines in 2016. However, this plan has been cancelled in October 2014 and she was eventually equipped with exhaust scrubbers from 03rd January to 25th March 2016. Therefore, her funnel was much widen at this occasion. She has also been repainted meanwhile.