New ferry links france and spain

A NEW ‘MOTORWAY’ ACROSS THE BAY OF BISCAY OPENS TODAY AS AN EU-FUNDED FERRY PROJECT STARTS AT NANTES A NEW ferry linking France and Spain launches today as the first Motorway of the Sea, a

European Union project to take freight transport off the roads. Operated by LD Lines, it offers a three-times-a-week service between Nantes/Saint-Nazaire in Brittany and Gijon in Asturias,

northern Spain. The crossing takes 14 hours. A special launch price allows a one-way crossing for a car and two passengers with a cabin at £79. LD Lines managing director Christophe Santoni

said the route provides a “unique landbridge between the UK and Northern Spain”, crossing via its Portsmouth-Le Havre or Newhaven-Dieppe routes and then on to Spain via Nantes/Saint-Nazaire.

Using the Norman Bridge ferry, which formerly served the Boulogne-Dover route; it will carry unaccompanied and accompanied freight vehicles and passengers. Motorways of the Sea is a project

to move traffic from the roads to sea, rail and inland waterways. It gives LD Lines a €30-million subsidy from France and Spain over four years. The company plans to upgrade the service to

a daily ferry, depending on demand. Photo: LD LInes