Santander (EFE).- The shipping company Brittany Ferries has a new ship, named Santoña, for its journeys between Santander and the United Kingdom and Ireland.
This is the first ship of the company that will operate in Santander with liquefied natural gas, a type of fuel that makes the ship more efficient and with 20 percent fewer emissions than the rest of its ferries.
In addition, 52 of the approximately 90 crew members of the ship will be from Cantabria, a novelty compared to the rest of the ferries, since it is the first time that the company has hired local personnel to work on one of its ships.
This ship will serve to cover the Santander-Portsmouth (England) route, a route that will cover twice a week (Wednesday and Sunday).
new maritime station
The ship has set sail from the new Santander Maritime Station, which will be operational as of March 10, and has made a test trip of approximately two hours leaving Santander Bay.
In addition to the name and the crew, the Santoña will take images of the region from Cantabria in the 343 cabins that can accommodate more than a thousand passengers.
The space will be remembered with environments focused on Santoña and other tourist resources in Cantabria, such as the Camino del Norte, the Picos de Europa or Santander, works by the photographer Kimberly Poppe and the artists Klunderbie, Rubén Sánchez and the Santoñés Juan Carlos Muñoz .
Brittany Ferries, almost half a century in Santander
The ship, 215 meters long, almost 28 meters wide and with a capacity to transport 2.7 kilometers of vehicles, has restaurants, bars, shops, children’s playrooms and large open-air promenade decks in its facilities.
The director of the French company, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, 45 of them operating from Santander, has emphasized that the Santoña is a “twin” of two other ships, the Galicia and the Salamanca and has celebrated that despite the impact of Brexit or Covid-19 at Brittany Ferries, the company faces the year with good booking expectations.
