BRITTANY Ferries' services from Poole to Cherbourg will not resume until mid-May at the earliest.

The Barfleur, which is currently laid-up due to the Covid travel, ban had been due to resume service in late March.

However, with only essential travel likely to be permitted in the near future, company bosses say it is not viable to run loss-making routes at this time.

Freight services will continue but the Poole-Cherbourg route, along with Portsmouth to St Malo, Portsmouth to Bilbao, and Portsmouth to Santander will not be operated.

Brittany Ferries Barfleur at Poole

Brittany Ferries Barfleur at Poole

Brittany Ferries says it will contact customer who hold bookings on affected sailings in the coming days, to offer alternative travel or a refund.

Christophe Mathieu, Brittany Ferries’ chief executive officer said: "Naturally we very much regret any inconvenience that these changes will cause our customers.

"We had hoped for a return to service for all our routes in mid-March, but the reality is that most people are simply unable to travel at this time.

"Booking levels are extremely low and we are relying on loans to carry us through this difficult period.

"It is therefore simply not viable to run loss-making routes at this time.”

Read more: Brittany Ferries calls for ‘sea lane’ travel corridors to be opened

Mr Mathieu said the company will continue to monitor the health and travel situation in all of its markets – UK, Ireland, France and Spain.

He added: "As soon as our customers can travel again, we will be there for them.

"We are also pushing governments to set out a pragmatic, co-ordinated and clear roadmap to safely re-open travel as soon as the health situation permits.

"We believe that the ramp-up of vaccines means that this re-opening could be considered sooner rather than later.”