New cross-channel ferry service

LD Lines currently operates from Newhaven and Portsmouth

A new cross-channel ferry service is to start from the Kent port of Dover next summer, it has been announced.

French Firm LD Lines will operate four daily sailings to and from Boulogne in France from 1 July 2009.

The ship will be capable of carrying up to 1,850 passengers, 700 cars and about 100 lorries.

The company currently operates crossings between Portsmouth and Le Havre, Newhaven and Le Havre and Newhaven and Dieppe.

LD Lines hopes to carry about 300,000 passengers, 130,000 cars and 120,000 lorries on the service in its first year.

The new service will take about one hour 45 minutes to do each crossing, according to the firm.