New Brittany Ferries ship Santoña docks in Portsmouth homeport

Brittany Ferries’ new ship Santoña has docked in its homeport of Portsmouth and will sail its first commercial crossing to Santander on March 3.

The vessel will sail to northern Spain twice a week as well as operate a single weekly return crossing to Cherbourg in France.

Santoña, which  is powered by cleaner liquefied natural gas (LNG), is the third in a series of five new vessels to join the fleet between 2019 and 2025.

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The next two new Brittany Ferries will feature hybrid technology and will run on LNG, electric power or a combination of the two.

Arriving in 2024 and 2025, the ships will replace two in the line’s fleet, Bretagne and Normandie. They will serve Portsmouth-Caen and Portsmouth-St Malo.

Brittany Ferries chief executive Christopher Mathieu said while the line is proud to contribute to the local economy, he also wants it to be a “partner for change, boosting moves to improve air quality across the city and to tackle climate change”.

“That’s why ships like Santoña and the hybrids to come are so important,” he added.

Leader of Portsmouth City Council Gerald Vernon-Jackson said: “Brittany Ferries shares the city’s ambitions for a future focused on protecting the environment.

“We are committed to supporting them to achieve their clean growth goals, which is why we are securing additional green energy to provide power for ships in the future that can plug in when in port.”