Mont St Michel

The Mont St Michel is the largest ferry ever constructed for the English Channel and also boasts the largest garage capacity. Built along the same lines as her near sister the Normandie, the Mont St Michel began a new interior style for the company with wide open spaces and an open plan design. She feels very modern and bright, offering all the facilities expected of a Brittany Ferries vessel including a new teenagers area called 'Games Planet'.

History

It was announced during June 2001 that an order had been placed with the Van der Giessen shipyard in Holland for the constriction of a new superferry to run alongside the Normandie to Caen. The new vessel would address an imbalance of services offered between the newer Normandie and the older Duc de Normandie, which she would replace. The new vessel was to be named Mont St Michel after the famous landmark in Normandie. Her keel was laid on the 7th June 2001 where construction proceeded apace and on schedule, being launched on time on the 16th March 2002. However, internal outfitting was to suffer major delays and her delivery was pushed back from June to December resulting in her missing the crucial summer season.

She departed the Van de Giessen shipyard on the 25th October bound for the Verolme shipyard at Europort where final fitting out would take place. She undertook sea trails in the North Sea between the 8th and 11th November. The Mont St Michel was finally handed over to Brittany Ferries on the 11th December where she sailed to Cherbourg via Caen and Portsmouth prior to entering service on the 20th December 2002 with the 1700 departure to Portsmouth.

The Mont St Michel is currently the largest cross channel ferry, both in terms of passenger numbers and her huge garage capacity offering space for 800 cars. She continues to operate successfully alongside her fleet mate and near sister the Normandie on the Caen route for which they were both specifically constructed.

The Name

The Mont St Michel is known world wide, and remains as the premier tourist destination in France. Le Mont St. Michel is an old abbey built on a small piece of land that becomes an island at high tide located on the border between Brittany and Normandie on the north coast of France.

The mv Mont St Michel is registered in the Norman port of Caen to which she exclusively sail to with her fleet mate Normandie.