MV Mont St Michel

Mont St Michel – © Andreas Wörteler

Steel twin screw motor vessel built in 2002 by Van der Giessen de Noord, Krimpen aan den Ijssel, Holland (Yard No 1362) as a car/passenger ferry for BAI SA Bretagne-Angleterre-Irlande (Brittany Ferries), Roscoff, France

Technical Data

• Length: 173.4m (overall) 162.25m (between perpendiculars)
• Breadth: 28.5m
• Depth: 21.15m
• Draught: 6.21m
• Tonnage: 35,592 gross/10,677 net/5579t deadweight
• Engines: 4 x 4T – 6 cylinder MaK/Caterpillar 6M43 diesels
• Power: 21,600 kW/29,348 HP
• Main Engine Driven Generators: 2 – 2000 kVA – 1600 kW
• Diesel Generators: 3 – 1950 kVA – 1560 kW – 2201 HP
• Propulsion System: 2 Screw Propeller Controllable pitch LB 10.00 at 156 rpm
• Speed: 22.0 knots
• Fuel Capacity: 774 m³
• Capacity: 2,120 passengers, 874 cars
• Call Sign: FNMT
• MMSI Number: 227023100
• IMO Number: 9238337
• Register Number: 01800J
• Port of Registry: Caen/France

Location Data

History

September 11th 2000: Ordered.

June 7th 2001: Keel struck.

March 16th 2002: Launched.

Mont St Michel – © Andreas Wörteler (16/03/2002)

November 8th 2002: Trials.

Mont St Michel – © Andreas Wörteler (26/10/2002)

December 2002: Delivered to BAI SA Bretagne-Angleterre-Irlande (Brittany Ferries), Roscoff, France.

December 11th 2002: Left Rotterdam for Caen.

December 13th 2002: Trials between Caen – Portsmouth.

December 2002: Services Caen – Portsmouth.

Mont St Michel – © Andreas Wörteler (Portsmouth, 21/05/2004)

Mont St Michel – © Ray Goodfellow

2005: Services between Caen/Ouistreham – Portsmouth.

Mont St Michel – © Andreas Wörteler (Portsmouth, 21/08/2009)

Mont St Michel – © Ray Goodfellow

August 21st 2012: Whilst en-route between Portsmouth – Quistreham a fire broke out, extinguished by crew no serious damage.

Mont St Michel – 🆕 © Andreas Wörteler (Ouistreham, 10/05/2013)

January 2014: Refit in Gdansk. 

Mont St Michel – © Gena Anfimov (Gdansk)

February 2014: Resumed service.

Mont St Michel – © Ray Goodfellow (Arriving in Portsmouth, March 2015)

September 24th 2015: Last day in service before refit in Spain. During her three month absence the Armorique covered her sailings between Ouistreham (Caen) and Portsmouth.

September 26th 2015: Departed Cherbourg for Santander.

Mont St Michel – © Brittany Ferries (Santander, 28/09/2015)

September 28th 2015: Arrived at the Astander shipyard in Santander for an extended refit which would include the installation of an exhaust gas scrubbing system (scrubbers) and the construction of a third funnel casing to accommodate the new equipment. This additional funnel structure was built between the ships two existing funnels.

Mont St Michel – © Brittany Ferries (Installation of the scrubbers (left) and the completed works before resuming service (right))

December 8th 2015: Departed the Astander shipyard, Santander for Cherbourg, calling at Gijon on route for bunkers.

December 10th 2015: Scheduled to arrive in Cherbourg from refit in Santander.

December 12th 2015: Undertook sea trials in the Bay of Seine.

Mont St Michel – © Tony Weaver (Brittany Ferries Ships) (Close up of the new funnel)

December 18th 2015: Returned to service operating a one off voyage between Cherbourg and Portsmouth before resuming regular sailings between Portsmouth and Ouistreham (Caen).

Mont St Michel – © Tony Weaver (Brittany Ferries Ships)

April 24th 2016: Operated from Portsmouth to Cherbourg instead of Caen. This was to enable the ship to receive scheduled maintenance to her scrubbers alongside.

April 25th 2016: Operated from Cherbourg to Portsmouth following maintenance in the Port of Cherbourg.

April 25th 2016: Resumed regular service from Portsmouth to Caen.

Mont St Michel – © Ray Goodfellow

5th June 2016: Brittany Ferries celebrated 30 years of operations between Portsmouth and Caen. Services were inaugurated with the ‘Duc de Normandie‘ on the 5th June 1986.

December 31st 2016: Laid up in the Port of Le Havre for the New Year.

January 2nd 2017: Resumed service between Caen and Portsmouth.

Mont St Michel – © Ray Goodfellow (Departing Portsmouth, 04/06/2017)

Mont St Michel – 🆕 © Simonwp (Portsmouth, 12/06/2018)

September 2018: Brest for repairs to one of her propellers.

September 17th 2018: Left Brest and sailed to Ouisterham.

September 18th 2018: Resumed service Caen – Portsmouth.

June 3rd 2019: Departed Portsmouth with a naval escort and a small ships flotilla. Veterans travelling with D-Day Revisited on-board, bound for Normandy for the D-Day 75 commemorations.

January 6th 2020: Refit in Gdansk. Annual maintenance and received her new company livery 

February 3rd 2020: Refit completed. 

Mont St Michel – 🆕 © Dogan (Ouistreham (Caen Harbour) 16/02/2020)

February 4th 2020: Conducted some sea trails once out of Gdansk harbour before she moved off heading for Cherbourg.

March 2020: Owing to Covid 19 pandemic sailings between Portsmouth and Caen continued for freight only.

September 1st 2020: Announcement made ” She would continue three daily departures as normal, with ARMORIQUE covering her refit, running in freight-only mode.

November 3oth 2020: Left Portsmouth bound for Cherbourg before sailing to Gdansk for her annual maintenance.

December 30th 2020: Left Gdansk for sea trials. 

January 3rd 2021: After sheltering in Bay of Seine arrived in Cherbourg.

January 4th 2021: Returned to service.

February 2021: Announcement made that she would continue Portsmouth – Caen.

December 25th 2021: Christmas Day lay-up in Le Havre.

December 26th 2021: Resumed service Caen – Prtsmouth.

All information is believed to be correct and no responsibility is accepted for any errors or omissions. All items included in this article are subject to © copyright. We would like to take this opportunity of thanking: Gena Anfimov, Brittany Ferries, Dogan, Simonwp, Andreas Wörteler and Tony Weaver (Brittany Ferries Ships) for their assistance in producing this feature.

Article © Nigel Thornton and Ray Goodfellow (Dover Ferry Photos Group)