P&O to withdraw Bilbao service

P&O Ferries, one of the UK's most famous maritime brands has announced that it will be withdrawing its Portsmouth-Bilbao ferry service in September 2010, when the charter for the vessel used on the route, the Pride of Bilbao finishes.

P&O's service will continue to operate until the 27th of September, when the last Bilbao to Portsmouth ferry will depart. Customers with bookings before this date have been assured that they will be unaffected, and P&O plans to contact all customers with bookings beyond this date as soon as possible.

The route has remained popular in the 15 years that P&O has operated it, but the company reports that losses continue and are unsustainable.

Chief executive Helen Deeble said: "We have examined every option very carefully and have been trying for more than three years to find a suitable replacement ship in order to continue the service profitably. The Pride of Bilbao has served us well but is now an old ship nearing the end of her commercial life and needs to be replaced... as this loss-making route is unable to fund the cost of a new purpose-built ship we have no alternative other than to close it."

Alternative ferries to Spain are offered by Brittany Ferries, who sail from both Portsmouth and Plymouth to Santander in the northern Spanish region of Cantabria.

Posted by Rob Williams