P&O Invests In New Ferries for Dover-Calais Route

Leading ferry operator P&O Ferries has ordered two new ferries to replace the Pride of Dover and the Pride of Calais on the Dover-Calais channel crossing route.

The two new ferries, which are being built in Finland, will be the largest ferries ever to operate in The Channel and have been designed to be the maximum size possible for the existing dock  facilities – 210m long.

The new ships will have double the freight capacity of the existing ferries and will be able to carry up to 195 tourist vehicles (cars and motorhomes, to you and me!). Each ferry will be able to carry up to 2,000 passengers.

The design of the new ferries addresses both environmental and safety issues. The ships will comply with the new ‘Safe Return To Port’ regulations that are coming into force for ferries delivered from 2010 onwards – each ship will be able to provide basic services and make it back to port under its own power, even in the event of major system failures.

The ships will also “be the first Channel ferries designed to manoeuvre under their own power in 50 knot winds”, according to P&O – should be quite impressive in the flesh, given how tight the ferry docks are for existing (smaller) ferries…

The new ferries are due to be delivered in 2010 and 2011 and will hopefully ensure that price and availability of channel ferry services remains competitive – especially when compared to budget airlines.

In the meantime, there is still plenty of competition in the cross-channel ferry sector and our new ferry price comparison service enables you to find the cheapest ferry prices for the route you want, at the times you want.

We’ve partnered with the UK’s leading vehicle ferry broker to provide a ferry booking engine that allows you to search for the cheapest ferry tickets on the route you want to use. It’s a great service that I have used myself – click here to give it a try.