Brittany Ferries ship to cross the Suez Canal

SHE'S SAILING TO EUROPE FROM CHINA

- WILLIAM TELFORD [e-mail] @wtelfordherald

BRITTANY Ferries' newest and greenest ship Salamanca is preparing to travel through the Suez Canal, en route from China to Europe.

The vessel left Weihai, where she was built, in early December 2021 and is on a two-month journey to Bilbao, Spain, the port the ferry was built to serve.

Salamanca weighs in at more than 42,000 gross tonnes, which means she will be one of the largest ships to serve the company, which has its UK HQ in Plymouth, and at 215 metres long she will be joint-longest The canal transit is a major milestone on Salamanca's 10,322-nautical mile trip. With a nautical mile equalling about 1.15 land (or statute) miles, the voyage measures a huge 11,878 miles that's more than 20 times the 555 nautical miles from Portsmouth to Bilbao, one of two routes the ship will operate from late March 2022.