Pont Aven ferry accidents and incidents

08 August 2023Cruise Illness / Virus Outbreaks

On August 8, 2023, the cruise ferry was rerouted to Port Brest (France) instead of the scheduled Plymouth (England). The itinerary change was a precautionary measure after crew members fell ill due to food poisoning.

In Port Brest, the affected staff were offloaded to receive medical attention. Reportedly, a total of 34 of the crew (but no passengers) showed symptoms of food poisoning. Several ambulances were waiting quayside upon the ship's arrival in Brest.

Brittany Ferries' onboard announcement (addressing the passengers about the ferry changing course to France) on Aug 8th stated: "Due to sickness among several crew members, the ship was diverted to Brest. After attendance by medical staff and the French authorities, the ship has now been cleared to leave. Her arrival in Plymouth is now expected around 10 pm".

The ship was operating the Spain-UK route departing from Santander on Aug 7th (at 16:00 UTC), arrived in Brest on Aug 8th (at 9:35 UTC) and left the same day at 14:21 UTC. Pont Aven arrived in Plymouth at 9:35 UTC (on Aug 8th) and left on Aug 9th (at 00:23 UTC) en route to France (Roscoff) where arrived at 6:43 UTC.

29 April 2019Fire Accident

On April 29, 2019, at ~4 am, the ship experienced an engine room fire accident while en-route from Plymouth (England UK) to Santander (Spain). The French Navy was contacted to assist the passenger vessel, at the time located approx 185 km (115 ml) south of Brest (France).

The ferry was carrying 766 passengers plus 142 crew. No injuries were reported. The liner remained operational and continued under its own power towards Brest, where damage assessments and emergency repairs were carried out at the shipyard of Damen Shiprepair Brest. Due to repairs, the vessel was out of service between May 17 and June 14 (2019).

18 August 2008Structural and Technical Issues

On August 18, 2008, while docked in Port Santander (Spain), the ship's bow door failed to open for the vehicles to be offloaded. The vessel had to re-berthed and all cars to reverse off, which resulted in further delays.

22 May 2006Structural and Technical Issues

On May 22, 2006, the ship sustained damage while en route from Plymouth England to Santander Spain.

The accident was caused by a rogue wave. It resulted in several smashed forward windows and several flooded cabins. The ship was diverted to Port Roscoff (France) where all passengers were disembarked.

On May 26, the ship returned to service.

August 2004Fire Accident

During its first year of service, the ship experienced a series of technical problems, the most serious of which was the flooding of its auxiliary engine room (August 2004).

The accident was caused by a faulty valve which left the vessel unable to move and docked in Port Plymouth (England) for 2 days. Many passengers had to be transferred to BRITTANY FERRIES ships leaving from Poole and Portsmouth.