Rivalry hots up on holiday route to Spain

A huge new ferry service is to come to Portsmouth to take on P&O after a major deal was struck with a Spanish firm.

Acciona Trasmediterranea has signed a contract with city council chiefs to run a route from Portsmouth to Bilbao from the ferry port.

The service will be in direct competition with the existing P & O service to the Spanish port.

Acciona's combined freight and passenger ferry, called Fortuny, will take 1,000 passengers compared to 2,500 on the P & O vesssel, but is a more modern ship.

The service will run from May 16 - going across twice a week off-peak and three times a week during the high season.

P&O Ferries is locked into the Bilbao route until 2008, but after that it will have to decide whether to continue.

P & O, which has been taken over by DP World, insisted it welcomed the competition and believed the introduction of another operator would allow the market to grow.

Algeciras - Ceuta

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Travelling on: 04/06/2012 - 07/06/2012

£30

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Las Palmas de Gran Canaria - Sta Cruz de Tenerife

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Travelling on: 07/06/2012 - 15/06/2012

£76

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Las Palmas de Gran Canaria - Sta Cruz de Tenerife

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Travelling on: 12/07/2012 - 20/07/2012

£134

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