A ferry operator could sell to another shipping line as two new vessels come into service.

Transmarche, the French operators of the Newhaven-Dieppe ferry service, are expected to sell next year.

The company announced its planned sale as the 16,000- tonne Cote d'Albatre, named after a section of the Normandy Coast, slid into the water for the first time at a Spanish shipyard.

The vessel can carry 600 passengers and 62 cars and is scheduled to come into operation in April next year.

A year later its 16,000 ton sister ship, Seven Sisters, will become operational, enabling the two purpose-built vessels to make the 67-mile crossing in three and a half hours instead of the current four and a half hours.

Transmanche is part of a consortium backed by the Seine Maritime department in France and the Dieppe Chamber of Commerce. It has spent £55 million on the two ferries.

The consortium already owns the ports of Newhaven and Dieppe but it now wants to sell the shipping operation to an established shipping line. Transmanche still wants to operate the two ports.

Steve Forrest, operations manager for the port of Newhaven, would not comment on the sale but said: "The launch of the first new ferry is good for the ports of Newhaven and Dieppe.

Nick Wellings, 67, the Brighton author and historian, a regular traveller on the Newhaven/Dieppe route, said: "French papers are reporting Transmanche Ferries as saying they want to sell the shipping operation to a specialised shipping company.

"Once we get two new ferries on the route and there is a reliable all-year-round service then this route will become fully established and it will benefit Sussex and Normandy."

Wednesday, August 3, 2005