According to Brittany Ferries, its new LNG-powered ferry Honfleur will not be able to be delivered in time for the 2019 summer season. The ship is being built at the Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft yard (FSG) in Germany, and was to start operations in April 2019.
The reason of the delay is the fact, the German shipyard is facing a financial crisis, due to penalties imposed for late delivery of Irish Ferries’ newest ship, W.B. Yeats.
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Currently, Brittany Ferries is waiting for a proposal from the shipyard to secure the contract to deliver the ship, hoping that that will happen in the near future.
After the steel-cutting in March 2018 and keel laying in August, the Honfleur was launched in December. Once operational the ferry will be the first on the English Channel to run on LNG. The ship also has a special hull, which along with gas-electric propulsion machinery aims to limit energy consumption, as well as vibration and noise levels.
The green ferry had received financial support of EUR 750 million from the European Investment Bank, under the Green Shipping Guarantee (GSG) program.
