Brittany Ferries Completes £60 Million Green Investment with Scrubber Installs

As part of a £60 Million environmental initiative, Brittany Ferries says it has installed scrubbers on six of its cruise-ferries over that past 18 months.

Brittany Ferries today announced that its £60 million ($85.71 million) environmental performance initiative is almost complete after the installation of scrubbers on six of the company's cruise-ferries over the past 18 months. 

"As a company we are proud of our reputation as guardians of the land and stewards of the sea," said Mike Bevens, group commercial director for Brittany Ferries.

Brittany Ferries' flagship is said to have been the last of the company's vessels to return to service following the scrubber installation at Poland's Gdansk Shipyard, with the scrubbers set to be fine-tuned over the next few weeks.

The company says that its flag ship Pont-Aven and the vessel Armorique, which recently returned to service, represent a collective investment of about £30 million ($42.89 million) in scrubber technology.

In addition to scrubber installations, Brittany Ferries says it has undertaken further steps to lessen the company's environmental impacts, including minimising fuel consumption by utilising reduced speed on overnight crossings, harnessing tides and wind to optimise fuel efficiency, and using anti-fouling coatings on the fleet's hulls, which are low in toxicity and improve the vessel's movement through the water, "aiding fuel efficiency and thereby reducing CO2."

Last year, upon announcement of a scrubber installation on Brittany Ferries' vessel Noramandie, the company's director Stephen Tuckwell said that with the price differential of low-sulfur marine gas oil (LSMGO) and heavy fuel oil (HFO) at around 40 percent, the cost of installing the system would be written off over three years.