Overwhelming public support for ferry linking south Wales and England
Richard Youle, Local Democracy Reporter
The concept of a ferry linking south Wales with southwest England has been backed by almost everyone who responded to a public consultation.
Swansea Council commissioned the consultation and said some “strong opportunities” had been identified.
But although 98% of the 4,400-odd respondents backed the concept of a fast ferry crossing the Bristol Channel between Swansea and southwest England, according to the council, more feasibility work is needed.
Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart first signalled backing for a hydrogen ferry in April 2022. Early last year a council-funded consultation on the concept got under way.
Supporters back the idea of a quick, environmentally-friendly transport option which would cut out the M4 and M5 and attract potential investment in ports and harbours.
There are questions about where a ferry would berth, how much investment would be needed to update port infrastructure, whether public support would translate into bookings, and how the ferry would attain zero-carbon emission credentials.
Although the consultation’s findings haven’t been made public yet the council said the maritime company that carried it out, Ocean Prime, has progressed work on an interim business case.
Last week it emerged that Devon County Council hadn’t held any meetings with its Swansea counterpart about a hydrogen-powered ferry proposal in the past two years.
Referring to the Ocean Prime consultation work a spokesman for Swansea Council said: “Detailed technical and commercial concept assessments have identified some strong opportunities. The feasibility of these opportunities will be undertaken in the coming months to understand how they might be included.
“This is why Swansea Council has very recently drafted a memorandum of understanding to enable this work to develop further.”
He said the memorandum formalised the collaboration between the council and Ocean Prime and added: “Ocean Prime has met several other regional council experts, including harbour masters, since they first became aware of the project in 2023.
“This has included exploratory talks about various aspects of a ferry concept with North Devon Council, Somerset Council, and Torridge District Council.
“Now that market testing has been carried out in the Swansea area meetings will be arranged between Swansea Council, Ocean Prime, and councils in southwest England to further explore feasibility.”
Demand
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service in April last year Ocean Prime chief executive Dave Sampson stressed it was very early days and gauging demand for a new service was key. He did though envisage a vessel around 55m long which would take passengers, cars, and some cargo at speeds of up to 40 knots.
Mr Sampson said Swansea was the only firm destination should the initiative progress further. In terms of other locations either side of the Bristol Channel and Celtic Sea further west he said: “We are not ruling anything in or out.”
He also said the intention would be for a ferry service to operate as much as possible rather than just the summer months.
Funding
In 2010 a proposed new fast ferry linking Swansea and Ilfracombe in north Devon, called Severnlink, came close to launching but was hit by funding difficulties.
Last June Swansea Council responded to a freedom of information request by a former Swansea councillor about the cost of the Ocean Prime consultation. The council said it had paid the company £24,995 and hadn’t allocated any further money towards the project.
The findings of the Ocean Prime consultation report are due to be published but no date has been given.
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Let’s hope this great venture actually happens in the next decade, as it would be well used all year round and a real boon for tourism here and in North Devon.
Not going to happen. Council PR only.
Borrow a ferry from somewhere and try it out over the summer peak.
Excellent idea. But I guess ‘they’ will need to shell out some money for some infrastructure to accommodate the ferry at ‘both ends’ so to speak.
The Waverley used to run regularly and was a big draw … for a while and in the summer only.
Trouble is it was often treated as a booze cruise
Where in Swansea. Place is awful for traffic.
South of the Ashland’s playing fields, other side of the Fabian Way. Offers great access to the docks. Might need to time the ferries to avoid Rush hour. Should be doable though.
I like the idea, but not sure siting a terminal near a busy city is a good move, so terminal location essential. Same for other end. Quick out to the M5 or slow drag through A roads, lot of England between the coast and M5 in pkaces.
I never go into Swansea unless I absolutely have to.
Swansea hasn’t missed you Jeff. Try Cheltenham, more your style perhaps.
This Ferry should connect with Kernow rather than Devon imo. Or at least the Devon/Kernow border.
Nice idea but the distance and tides would be difficult to offer regular sailings.
That’s alot of infrastructure needed. And ferries tend to rely on alot of freight to keep viable. Do we really trade that much across the Severn Sea. With England or do many holiday that way when more fun going to an airport
Airport? Fun? …. uh….
Depends on the airport. Cardiff and Changi are my faves. Bristol and Heathrow are the worst.
Countries like Canada have ferrys that are subsidised – Nova Scotia to Prince Edward Island is free if you turn up, but you can book. So tourists pay to cross in summer months or pay for the bridge and locals can use throughout the year. The bridge tolls probably fund the boat. The optimum ports for the Welsh economy could be Barry to Weston Super Mare (short crossing). That location is near Cardiff Airport and if trains went Swansea to Newport via a location between the Airport and Port; less people would travel by car and also Cardiff Airport has… Read more »
This websites Stuart Cole should be commenting on boat links as he has an excellent understanding of train passengers and freight flows. Wales manufacturing hub is the Tata Steelworks in Port Talbot. The new electric arc steel making process needs lorries / trains – but that could be on boats that carry freight and passengers. For Tata to sell more steel it may benefit from a boat link to South-West England and Liverpool (also supply Manchester by the Liverpool to Manchester canal). The UK (unlike Canada and France) never look at transport at a national level; the EU has Ten-T… Read more »
Well it’s like motherhood and apple pie. Nobody will be against it. However, for it to be viable and used it needs to be regular, more than 1 a day, easily accessible both sides to main routes and be for more than just those going on holiday. Somehow I doubt it will be many of these.
Don’t want this to happen