Brittany Ferries’ combined road-rail freight service between the Normandy port of Cherbourg and Bayonne-Mouguerre, in the French Basque Country, is looking to expand its business. The company is targeting perishables shipments between Spain and the UK to stimulate volumes while also planning to handle hazardous goods.
After an initial launch in May 2025 and being officially inaugurated in July, it suffered a three-week interruption in August due to work to extend the tracks, electrify and upgrade the combi terminal in Mouguerre. The service, which covers a distance of almost 1,000 kilometers, resumed late-August, operating five return trips per week.
Each train is currently composed of 18 Modalohr-type wagons with double pockets, allowing 36 unaccompanied trailers to be transported and loaded and unloaded using specialised horizontal handling facilities. However, capacity is expected to increase to 21 wagons (42 trailers) in 2026.
No customer lost
In an interview with local media, Fabrice Turquet, commercial director for the Iberian market at Brittany Ferries, was keen to point out that no customers had been lost as a result of the interruption of the service and that they continued to be satisfied with the reliability and punctuality it offered. His comments were confirmed to RailFreight.com by a company spokesperson. Its main customers are drawn from several European countries who specialise in the industrial, food and automotive sectors.
‘Ambitious’ goal of 6/7 weekly round trips
He revealed that reaching Cherbourg-Bayonne rolling highway eyes perishables, hazardous goods, as well as an average train occupancy rate of 70% from October onwards, remains an “ambitious” goal, but one that Brittany Ferries is bent on achieving. The company is also aiming to increase round trips to six to seven weekly in 2026. “It’s important for us that volumes increase fairly quickly,” he added.
Demand for freight transport on the UK-Iberian Peninsula route is mainly one-way, exports travelling from south to north. “We are counting on the fruit and vegetable export season, which runs from mid-October to the end of May, to the UK,” Turquet underlined.
The ferry company is also finalising processes to be able to carry hazardous goods on the combi service, in the first instance, in small quantities. “Cosmetics and perfumes fall into this category,” he said. Marketed as a sustainable freight transport solution, the service will result in up to 30,000 fewer trucks on the road on an annual basis and a reduction of 20,000 tonnes of CO2.