UK port launched its first regular passenger ferry service to France on 17 June 1976
By
Rebecca Gibson |
On 17 June, Portsmouth International Port marked 40 years since the first ferry left from the UK port for Cherbourg in France.
Although Portsmouth’s commercial port has been in almost constant use since Roman times, it has only had the infrastructure to handle regular ferry operations for the past 40 years.
Townsend Thoresen’s Viking Victory was the first ferry to depart the port for France on 17 June 1976. Brittany Ferries’ Armorique followed shortly afterwards, sailing on a new route from Portsmouth to the French port of St Malo. Since then, Brittany Ferries is the only ferry company to have continuously operated from Portsmouth since it opened, and recently celebrated 30 years of its service to Caen, France.
Today the port, which is owned and operated by Portsmouth City Council, handles more than two million passengers travelling to France, Spain and the Channel Islands every year.
To mark the anniversary, the port’s operational staff, former employees and other invited guests attended a ceremony at the passenger terminal. They included Roger Pratt, who has worked for Brittany Ferries at Portsmouth International Port since the 1970s, and Roy Tutt, who helped build the old terminal in 1976. Both men were interviewed by BBC Radio Solent presenter Julian Clegg outside the passenger terminal as part of a broadcast about the port’s history.
Port manager Martin Putman, who joined the port in 1988, was also interviewed and cut a celebration cake featuring scenes from the port.
“It is delightful to share this happy day with so many staff, celebrating just how much we have achieved at Portsmouth International Port since councillors took the decision to open a new facility in the 1970s,” said Putman. “Today’s operation is a far cry from our humble beginnings, but the desire to provide the highest levels of service, now and in the future, remains the same. We look forward to many more decades of success.”
Visitors can learn more about the 40th anniversary in a new display on the first floor of the terminal building this summer.