Ferries continue despite cold snap

All ferry services out of Britain to Europe, Ireland and the Isle of Wight are continuing to operate through the snow and ice with no significant delays, reported industry body The Passenger Shipping Association today (Monday 20 December).

Furthermore, there are tickets still available on many routes for passengers not confident of being able to guarantee travel by air or tunnel over the festive period, according to the PSA.

Ferry operators also remain confident that they can continue to provide a near-full service in the run up to Christmas, and even have some spare capacity for those considering new alternative transport routes for the festive break.

"Our ferry company members are very experienced in continuing to provide scheduled services in testing weather conditions, and the snow and ice have, and are expected to have little effect on sailing schedules", said PSA director, Bill Gibbons.

"People noticed how ferries came to the rescue in the ash cloud situation earlier this year, and it looks like ferries could also be welcome saviours this Christmas... just as long as passengers can get to their port of embarkation".

Search availability for ferries out of Britain to and from Ireland and Europe:

Brittany Ferries, which operates several services between the UK, France and Spain, are operating normally, with capacity between now and Christmas

SeaFrance are reporting no delays, and also still have capacity for passengers wishing to travel in time for Christmas.

Stena Lines are not experimenting any problems so far and don’t expect any disruption to their services. There is still capacity available before Christmas and extra departures have been added on Boxing Day.

DFDS Seaways are operating normally on their North Sea routes of Newcastle-Amsterdam and Harwich-Esbjerg, on their Dover-Dunkirk Channel route, and on their Irish routes Liverpool-Belfast and Liverpool-Dublin, with limited passenger space still available pre-Christmas.

Irish Ferries from Holyhead to Dublin and Pembroke to Rosslare are operating at their normal high season frequency, with space available for all sailings.

Fastnet Line, which operates the Swansea – Cork route, will be operating a normal schedule as planned, including the Christmas/New Year period.

LD Lines has confirmed their ferry services between Portsmouth and Le Havre, Newhaven – Dieppe and Ramsgate – Ostend are all operating normally as advertised and have car and passenger space available.

Even the fast Hovertravel service across the Solent has been operating normally at 90 minute intervals (every 15 minutes at peak), and will be operating up to, and including Christmas Eve (no Hovertravel services on Christmas and Boxing Day)