M/V Cotentin

In 2005, Brittany Ferries ordered Cotentin, although her allocation was not decided at the time. Rumours were saying that she would be allocated to a service leaving from Cherbourg-en-Cotentin and that she would operate at week ends sailings to Spain. It was initially rumoured that she would be operated from Santander, yet Brittany Ferries announced that they had chosen not to operate her from Santander due to port fees being too high.

In October 2006, International Freighting Weekly magazine unveiled that she would replace Coutances between Cherbourg-en-Cotentin and Poole. Schedules would be reviewed in order to scrap the early-morning departure. Brittany Ferries confirmed the information on 21st July 2007, whilst they recognised that they did not know when the ship would be delivered. Moreover, it eventually announced that she would operate once a week to Santander.

Sea trials began on 26th September 2007, before going back to the ship yard to complete her accommodation decks. Cotentin was delivered on 9th November 2007, enabling her to perform berthing trials in Portsmouth and Poole.

Cotentin was introduced on the route serving Cherbourg-en-Cotentin and Poole on 26th September 2007, a few days behind schedule. It was initially planned that Cotentin would be operated during Winter 2008 between Caen and Portsmouth, replacing Mont Saint Michel, whilst Bretagne would have replaced her in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. This plan was later amended and Cotentin remained on the Cherbourg-en-Cotentin service.

In May 2008, Cotentin's schedule was reviewed, cutting her crossing time between Cherbourg-en-Cotentin and Poole from 4h30 to 3h45. This was later increased to save fuel (whose cost was increasing), implying longer crossing times.

In January 2010, France was confronted with important snow falls. Therefore, lorries were unable to sail to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin and on 7th January, Brittany Ferries had to reroute Cotentin to Saint-Malo to pick up her customers.

However, due to a drop of freight traffic on the Channel and following Brittany Ferries’ competitivity plan, it has been announced at the end of 2012 that Cotentin would leave Brittany Ferries’ fleet by late-2013. It was then decided to cut the number of crossing she operates until her decommissioning.

In 2013, Stena Line announced that it would charter out Cotentin for five years without a purchase-option. Renamed Stena Baltica, she was introduced on the Karlskrona – Gnydia route.

It is rumoured that Stena Lines would like Stena Baltica to be equipped with exhaust scrubbers. Moreover, Stena Baltica was eventually fully repainted to Stena Lines’ colours in 2015, whereas only her funnel has been repainted before.