Introduction
The Val de Loire was built as
the Nils Holgersson in 1987 for TT-Line as hull number 1059.
She was built at the Schichau Seebeckswerft AG, Bremerhaven
Shipyard, Tyskland, at the time being one of the largest ferries in the world,
along with her sister ship, the Peter Pan (now sailing as the Fjord
Norway).
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. Following the her sale to Brittany
Ferries and completion of service for TT-Line she was renamed Val de Loire
on the 14th January 1993 and set sail
for the Ankommer INMA Shipyard, Italy where she underwent a complete refurbishment
and re-build.
As well as being a sister to the Fjord Norway the Val de Loire 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 renamed
them Pride of Portsmouth and Pride of Le Havre respectively. They
operated between Portsmouth and Le Havre until the route was closed
in September 2005.
Additionally, Stena Line built a smaller version - the Konginin
Beatrix, at the Van der
Giessen shipyard in Holland.
Battle of the Bay
Following Brittany Ferries introduction of their new flagship, the
Bretagne, on their Spanish and Irish routes, passenger traffic
increased significantly. This new cruise ferry, the first
to be
constructed for both Brittany Ferries and the English Channel, had
captured much interest from the public and media alike with her now
trend setting luxury interior and amenities. The success the company
was experiencing on the route did not go un noticed with its rivals.
P&O Portsmouth had long been rumoured to be investigating the
possibility
of operating their own route to the Iberian Peninsular,
but the lack of suitable tonnage was hindering their progress. P&O
had previously operated a route to Northern Spain but it was closed
in 1981, it wasn’t until Brittany Ferries started their own service,
the first to offer
just one night at sea, was a UK-Spain passenger
service found to be a success. In April 1992 P&O Portsmouth
announced that it had secured the long term charter of Viking Line’s
Olympia from Irish Continental Group (Irish Ferries), who had
purchased her outright. The new ship was to operate a twice weekly
service between Portsmouth and Bilbao and be renamed Pride of
Bilbao. This was to go head to head with Brittany’s established
Santander service, despite the longer sailing time of 36 hours
compared to their own 24. Brittany Ferries looked to Germany’s TT-Line
which was looking to redeploy its own fleet more into the freight
sector. In May 1992 it was announced that they had purchased
the
Nils Holgersson for $60 million for the Santander
service. The new ship was to undergo
a major £40million
rebuild and refurbishment programme in Italy before emerging in June
1993 as the Val de Loire.
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 ( a first for the company), and the majority of the aft passenger spaces on decks 7-9 were
all completely transformed and given the full 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.
As well as Commodore Cabins the Val de Loire brought a number of
other 'firsts' to the company. An alternative restaurant, le
Café du Port on deck 8 was
a French bistro restaurant which produced some of the finest meals
on the channel. An observation lounge was located at the forward end
of deck 8 allowing panoramic views across the bow as well as
providing navigational instrumentation and charts for passengers to
view. A Commodore Class lounge was also created on deck 9 within the
exclusive Commodore Class section of the ship. A swimming pool,
sauna and gym were available for use on deck 1 and tourist office
was located on deck 9 beside two conference rooms. A hair & beauty
salon was also provided, although this was removed in 2004 once she
left the Spanish route. These facilities
set the Val de Loire apart from both her own fleet mates but also
that of her competitors.
The 'theme' used throughout the vessel was of 'Maritime Tradition'.
Numerous detailed models of various ocean going liners were
positioned throughout the vessel's interior, along with items
including sextants, search lights, compasses and telescopes. The
ships restaurant 'le temps de vivre' was decorated with watercolours
of the Loire Valley creating a calming atmosphere, whilst the 'Cafe
du Port' and the salon du the (le Grand Large) were lined with
fishing imagery from Roscoff including some unique stained glass
murals. Commodore cabins were named after different wines within the
Loire Valley, with a complimentary bottle of the name sake's cabin
inside for Spanish sailings.
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 continues to
operate following spending the 2005 at Roscoff.
The operations of the Val de Loire have remained similar since her
arrival. She continued to operate between Plymouth, Santander,
Roscoff & Cork, and between Portsmouth & Caen during the winter
months until March 2004. She also spent periods sailings between Portsmouth
and St.Malo (with a weekend sailing to Plymouth and Roscoff) before
permanently moving to the route, having been displaced by the
Pont-Aven at Plymouth. During the 2004 season she operated alongside
the Bretagne alternating between Portsmouth, St Malo and Cherbourg
services until operating solo to St Malo in 2005. The
Val de Loire has
also undertaken a number of popular Christmas and New Year cruises to
Santander 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 had 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. Her 2 crews,
under Captain Barbancon, Captain Saludo, (and fomerly Captain Selosse)
work on a week on, week off rotation pattern, most having been
onboard since the very beginning in 1993.
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 whilst reversing off the berth and
landed against 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, and remained out of service for just
over a week.
The Val de Loire became a TV star when Channel 5 filmed 'Ferry
Tales' - a 'fly on the wall' series. 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 an
insight into the behind the scenes operations of a cruise ferry.
In 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 at 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 sailed 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' but never the less great modern feature in
today's technological age.
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.
Upon the arrival of the Pont-Aven in March 2004 the Val de Loire
bid farewell to Plymouth ,following her final sailing to Santander
on 21st March, transferring to her new Portsmouth base.
Here she was to spend the year operating in tandem with the Bretagne
on an enhanced St Malo service as well as on Brittany Ferries new
Portsmouth to Cherbourg
route which was opened in direct competition
with that of P&O Ferries long established operation. Carryings on
the new route were low, and combined with a lack of advertising and
a regular sailing schedule the route looked set to close until it
was announced that P&O Ferries were to axe their own route at the
end of
the year. During 2005 the Val de Loire operated alone to St Malo
route, with occasional visits to Plymouth during the winter months.
During her last few months of service the Val will be sailing
initially between Portsmouth & Cherbourg, before switching to the
Caen route to cover for refits. Her final sailing for the company
will the on the 20th February 2006 between Portsmouth & Cherbourg at
0745.
Hall of Fame
After almost 13 years service the Val de Loire will leave the
Brittany Ferries fleet, joining
the likes of the Amorique, Quiberon, Bretagne, as vessels to have
sailed on the flagship Spanish services. The Val de Loire will also
become the first super-ferry/cruise ferry to leave the fleet. She is
also one of the companies most travelled ships, having operated on
all but the Poole - Cherbourg route at some point during her career.
The Val will be replaced on the St Malo route by the Bretagne which
will be making a comeback to the route, which
in turn will be replaced by the chartered Pont L'Abbe. This vessel
was formerly the Duke of Scandinavia and is the vessel the Val de
Loire is replacing on the North Sea. In the
meantime a new ship, codenamed Bretagne II, is currently under
construction for the Roscoff route and is due to enter service in
2008.
The Future
The Val de
Loire will be fondly missed, having become a favourite amongst
Brittany Ferries passengers as well as a familiar and welcome sight
at the ports she operated to over the years. She has given her
owners sterling service over the past 13 years, and has generated
much growth and income. Her new life as the King of Scandinavia wont
see
her go too far from home, and we wish her well with her new owners,
DFDS Seaways.
Merci Val de
Loire, au revoir et bon voyage!
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