Super-ferry returns to city route

The £100m super-ferry carries 2,400 passengers and 650 cars

Brittany Ferries says it hopes to "draw a line" under the problems with its new flagship as it returns to Plymouth.

The Pont-Aven began working out of the city port a year ago.

But it was unable to sail for several weeks during the summer because of faults, causing cancellations and delays for thousands of passengers.

She was repaired and went into service at Portsmouth, but is back permanently in Plymouth now on routes to Roskoff in northern France and Santander in Spain.

Huge capacity

A Brittany Ferries spokesman said the return of the vessel to Plymouth was not being seen as a relaunch.

But he said the company was hoping it would now be able to put the vessel's troubled first year behind them.

The 41,000-tonne German-built super-ferry is capable of carrying 2,400 passengers and 650 cars.

Among its problems was a cracked cooling valve, which took longer than expected to repair when the faulty valve allowed 1,200 tonnes of seawater to flood the engine room.