Introduction
The Val de Loire was built as
the Nils Holgersson in 1987 for TT-Line. She was a
sister
ship to the Peter Pan (now sailing as the Fjord
Norway). Built at the Schichau Seebeckswerft AG, Bremerhaven
Shipyard, Tyskland and at the time was one of the
largest ferries in the world.
She entered service on 26th June 1987 between Trelleborg -
Travemünde.
In 1992 she was chartered to Rederi Ab, Gotland and later
sold to SweFerry Ab, Trellborg. The Nils Holgersson continued
to sail on this route until she was sold to Brittany Ferries in
January 1993. Following the completion of her service for TT-Line she
sailed as the Val de Loire for the Ankommer INMA Shipyard, Italy where she underwent a complete refurbishment and re-build.
The Val de Loire was built as the sister ship to the Peter Pan for
TT Line, but also has 3
near sister ships. TT Line leased the plans
of these two vessels to Olau Line who themselves built two sister
ships of only slightly differing specification. These ships were the
Olau Britannica and the Olau Hollandica. Following the demise of
Olau in 1994 P&O Ferries chartered these two ships and they are
now operating at the Pride of Portsmouth and Pride of Le Havre respectively.
Additionally, Stena Line built a smaller version - the Konginin
Beatrix.
Italian Conversion
The most noticeable change, apart
from her new paint scheme, was the addition of a new bow and forward
section. This addition made the ship look more pleasing to the eye,
and also permitted the installation of an observation lounge and
forward balcony on decks 7
and 8. It resulted, however, in a
decrease in the ships sea keeping capabilities, making her 'ride'
the waves more than before. Commodore Class cabins were added
on deck 10, and the majority of the aft passengers on decks 7-9 were
all completely transformed and given the Brittany Ferries treatment.
All of the public spaced were transformed, most notably on decks 9
and 7, and on deck 1 the leisure centre was refurbished and two
cinemas installed.
Brittany Ferries Flagship
Once work had been completed in Italy she set sail for Santander
where she carried out berthing trials before heading to Roscoff. A
number of press events were also held prior
to her entry into
service, during heavy weather conditions ion the Bay of Biscay. The Val
de Loire arrived in Plymouth for the first time on
4th June 1993, and began operations to Santander on 9th June,
following her first passenger sailing from Roscoff-Plymouth the
previous weekend. Upon her arrival the Bretagne was
transferred to to Portsmouth - St.Malo route, which she still sails
today until she is again replaced by the Val de Loire.
The operations of the Val de Loire have remained similar
since her arrival. She continues
to sail to Santander & Cork
from Plymouth between March and November, and during the winter
months she transfers to Portsmouth. Between 1993-2001 she operated
on the Portsmouth-Caen route during the winter - covering for the
dry dock season. However during the winter of 2002 the Val de
Loire sailed between Portsmouth-St.Malo (with a weekend sailing
to Plymouth and Roscoff). This was the vessels first time on this
route,
in preparation for her permanent role on the route. She has
also undertaken a number of Christmas and New Year cruises to
Amsterdam and Rouen.
Service Review
It has been pretty much smooth sailing for the Val over
the years, but as with all ships, she has had her moments. Her appearance
has remained largely unaltered, apart from the addition of a fast
rescue boat on the starboard side in 2001, and the re-colouring of
the company colours from orange to red in the late nineties.
The Val has the tightest turnarounds of all the ferries operating on the
channel,
in peak season not ever stopping
for more than two and a half hours. The 2 crews,
under Captain Barbancon and Captain Saludo, sail across the Bay of Biscay, the
Channel and the Irish sea all in 7 days!
During
the winter of 1998 the Val de Loire, when vacating the berth
in Plymouth to allow
the Quiberon to berth during severe
gales, she was blown off course and crashed into the outer pier at Millbay docks. This caused structural damage above the waterline and
following a preliminary inspection at the DML naval dockyard (having
sailed up the River Tamar) she sailed, with temporary repairs, for
Brest where she was fully repaired. She
had no passengers or cars
onboard during this incident.
The Val de Loire has also been the star of a Channel 5 'fly on the
wall' series entitled
'Ferry Tales'. An episode followed the Val de
Loire on one of her winter sailings to Santander covering the
exploits of some of her 'interesting' passengers, offering a small
look behind the scenes into the operation of a cruise ferry. The
Normandie also starred in another episode, as did the Bretagne.
During September 2000 the Val de Loire suffered severe
problems with her propeller shaft overheating. When the problem was
initially identified it was hoped that it could be repaired on site
but it was soon realised that it was more serious than first
thought, and as a result
a sailing between Cork and Roscoff took
some 30hrs and she was forced to sail to Brest for repairs
that took over two weeks, having been estimated at only one week at
most. During this time the fleet undertook the largest shake up
for over a decade. The Barfleur was initially transferred to cover
for the Val de Loire to Roscoff but as her return was delayed the
Bretagne came back to Plymouth. The Duc de Normandie covered for the
Bretagne to St Malo and the Barfleur covered the Caen route with the
Normandie in place
of the Duc de Normandie. Services from Poole were
suspended until her return.
The Val de Loire made worldwide headlines on the 19th June
2001 when Spanish police uncovered a plot by the terror organization
ETA to explode a bomb onboard in Santander and sink her at the berth
following evacuation of the passengers. Thankfully the suspects were
arrested, and the Val de Loire can
sail safely on. Security has been raised dramatically however both
in Santander and Bilbao in light of the plot.
In 2000 Geolink chose the Val de Loire as the first passenger
ship to be fitted with a wireless mobile GSM network. Confused? No
matter where you are in the world, you can use your mobile phone
onboard just as you would if you were on land. There is no longer
any escape from a phone, something some consider to be a little
excessive when on a 'holiday ferry'.
During 2003, her final year on the Santander service, the Val de
Loire continued to hit the headlines, for different reasons. On the
8th May a young woman from Plymouth jumped overboard in the Bay of
Biscay prompting a large search of the area, sadly proving unsuccessful.
On the 17th September a 24 year old Vietnamese man jumped from the
ship as it was arriving into Plymouth. He was recovered in minutes
by a MOD launch, and following criminal damage and assault charges
was retuned on the following ferry to
Spain, along with several
other men. During the summer of 2003 the Val undertook trials
of a
new radio link enabling the crew to access Brittany Ferries’
reservation system whilst at sea.
Later in 2003 the Val de Loire again had a 'man overboard'. On
the 17th September a 24 year old Vietnamese man jumped from the
ferry as she arrived into Plymouth in an attempt
to enter the UK
illegally. He was picked up by police launch within minutes, and
seven other men, and two women, were also detained at the port
before being refused entry to the UK.
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