New ferry service to France and Spain

A newferry service will connect Irish travellers with St Nazaire on the west coast of France and Gijón in northern Spain.

The service, which will be operated by LD Services, will operate on a weekly basis from Rosslare, Co. Wexford. The French route will depart Rosslare at 9pm on a Friday, returning on a Wednesday with a 23.59 departure time from St. Nazaire. Online booking will be available from tomorrow, with the route commencing on January 5th 2014.

Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar welcomed the announcement, saying "it provides a valuable new landbridge from France and Spain into Ireland".

"It's the first service of its kind to Ireland, and it's great news for our tourism industry," he said, adding that it comes on the back of the introduction of a weekly ferry route from Cherbourg to Dublin, which was announced by Irish Ferries last month.

LD Lines is a subsidiary of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Group, a major player in maritime transport with a fleet of over 60 ships operating worldwide. It operates cross channel ferry services from England to Spain, from Ireland to France and from France to Spain.