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Dover-Calais Ferry Crossing - P&O second super-ferry The Spirit of France arriving soon

P&O Ferries announced this week that it would be taking delivery of its second super-ferry, The Spirit of France, for the Dover-Calais route this week.

The new ferry was expected to be officially handed over to P&O Ferries yesterday at the STX Europe shipyard in Rauma, Finland months ahead of schedule. After handover, The Spirit of France will then embark on a 1400 mile journey through the Baltic and across the North Sea to Dover where it is expected to arrive this Saturday, 28th January.

Under the command of its senior master Captain Steve Johnson, The Spirit of France will join up with its sister ship The Spirit of Britain, which has been in service on the Dover-Calais short crossing since early 2011. Together the two new P&O ships represent a massive step-up in both the quality of service and carrying capacity offered to cross channel ferry passengers.

Each of the new super-ferries weighs in at more than 43,000 tons and is 213 metres in length. The two new ferries can carry up to 3750 passengers between them whilst the payload on the car decks of each ferry is around 1059 cars and 180 lorries. By comparison, one of P&O’s present generation of ferries on the Dover-Calais crossing, the Pride of Calais, is a mere 26,000 tonnes and 44 metres shorter than the new ships.

The Spirit of Britain and The Spirit of France, as well as being the largest ferries ever to ply the Straits of Dover, are also the most technologically advanced. The two ferries represent the biggest investment P&O Ferries has ever made in its ferry fleet, the combined cost of the two monster ferries being around €360 million.

The arrival of The Spirit of France on the Dover-Calais crossing is in stark contrast to the woes which have befallen P&O’s rival Seafrance which was recently placed in liquidation but guarantees that those who prefer a sea crossing to the tunnel on the short trip between the UK and continental Europe will continue to have a choice for the foreseeable future.

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