dfds seaways and partly shut down . founded 2005 defunct 2014 headquarters suresnes france area served english channel bay of biscay key people pierre gehanne chairman services passenger transportation freight transportation parent louis dreyfus armateurs divisions new channel company a s website www.ldlines.com norman voyager at rosslare ld lines was a french shipping company with both roro freight and passenger ferry operations . its parent louis dreyfus armateurs sas engages in building owning operating and managing vessels . it offers dry bulk transportation bulk logistics and transportation submarine cable installation and offshore services . 1 ld lines operated ferry routes on the english channel the bay of biscay and the mediterranean sea . in 2013 part of ld lines merged with the english channel operations of dfds seaways to form dfds seaways france . in september 2014 the poole gijon santander route closed and the norman asturias was immediately laid up off the coast of saint nazaire and in mid september 2014 the saint nazaire gijon route was suspended and the norman asturias was sent to algeciras and the norman atlantic to messina . contents 1 new channel company a s dfds seaways france 1.1 le havre portsmouth 1.2 dieppe newhaven 1.3 dover calais 2 former routes 2.1 saint nazaire gij n 2.2 poole santander 2.3 poole gij n 2.4 rosslare saint nazaire 2.5 ramsgate ostend 2.6 le havre rosslare 2.7 dover dieppe 2.8 dover boulogne 3 current fleet 4 past ships 5 references 6 external links new channel company a s dfds seaways france edit in march 2012 dfds and louis dreyfus armateurs entered into an agreement to form a new company that combines dfds and ld lines ferry routes in the english channel and one route between france and tunisia . 2 during 2013 ld lines portsmouth le havre newhaven dieppe and share of dover calais operation were transferred to the new company known as dfds seaways france along with dfds seaways dover dunkirk service . dfds seaways france is 82 % owned by dfds with the remaining 18 % owned by louis dreyfus armateurs . ld lines saint nazaire gij n and later uk and ireland biscay service was not included in the transaction . lda sold their remaining share in the venture to dfds in late 2014 and the venture became fully merged into dfds . le havre portsmouth edit ld lines english channel operations commenced in october 2005 operating between portsmouth england and le havre france . this service was introduced following the withdrawal of p & o ferries long standing operation on this route . initially there was one sailing per day in each direction with the portsmouth le havre sailing taking place overnight . this utilised one vessel the ms norman spirit which is ironically a former p & o vessel used on their dover calais route until may 2005 . in 2008 the norman voyager was introduced on the route she was withdrawn in september 2009 and chartered to celtic link ferries for service between cherbourg and rosslare and cherbourg and portsmouth . in november 2009 norman spirit was moved to the dover boulogne route her place was taken by cote d albatre which remained on the route until the norman spirits return in 2011 . on july 13 2007 it was reported that ld lines had ordered a new ro pax ferry for the route from singapore technologies engineering with an option for another ship of the same type . 3 the ship which will be capable of carrying 1215 passengers will enter service in 2010 and be named norman leader . 4 she will be used on the route le havre portsmouth . on 17 march 2011 the contract for the purchase of the vessel was cancelled according to press release issued by st marine dated 19 march 2011 . reasons given for the cancellation are the delays and questions about the tonnage . the norman spirit resumed sailing on the portsmouth le havre route in early 2011 but was chartered to dfds seaways in november 2011 to increase capacity on the dover dunkirk route following the collapse of seafrance . 5 norman spirit s place was taken by the norman voyager . the portsmouth le havre service was transferred to dfds seaways france in 2013 and is now fully marketed as a dfds seaways route . this route is due to close by the end of 2014 due to the route failing to make a profit . dieppe newhaven edit ld lines was one of five companies invited to tender for the operation of transmanche ferries service between dieppe and newhaven . p & o stena line operated the route until 1998 after which hoverspeed operated the route until 2004 . because the french government did not want the route to be lost they started a new subsidised company by the name of transmanche ferries in april 2001 . after five years of successful service and the arrival of two newbuilds the government decided to tender the line in a concession . the contract to operate the service was awarded to ld lines on 21 december 2006 . for this service they will receive an annual subsidy of up to 14.6 million . ld lines commenced sailings on this route on 1 may 2007 . in addition to three round trips between dieppe and the port of newhaven ld lines started a single round trip per day between le havre and newhaven during high season using the ms seven sisters . however in august 2008 they announced that this service would not be continued . currently there are two sailings per day each way one in the morning and one in the evening using the seven sisters . the dieppe newhaven service was transferred to dfds seaways france in 2013 and is now fully marketed as a dfds seaways route . dover calais edit ld lines and dfds seaways announced on 7 february 2012 that they would be launching a joint service between dover and calais commencing on 17 february 2012 using the norman spirit . 6 the two companies had previously submitted a joint bid for the assets of seafrance which was turned down . 7 dfds later chartered the barfleur from brittany ferries to increase the number of sailings on the new route she was replaced by the dieppe seaways . the dover calais service was transferred to dfds seaways france in 2013 and is now fully marketed as a dfds seaways route . norman spirit has since been renamed calais seaways . former routes edit saint nazaire gij n edit ld lines launched a saint nazaire gij n service on 2 september 2010 using the norman bridge . this route received a european union subsidy as part of its motorways of the sea project . such was the success of the service that the norman bridge was replaced by the larger baltic amber which was renamed norman asturias . following the opening of the poole santander route the norman asturias was replaced with the scintu which has since been renamed norman atlantic this route is currently suspended with norman atlantic released elsewhere . poole santander edit on 3 november 2013 ld lines launched a service between poole united kingdom and santander spain using the norman asturias . 8 this service was formerly operated by brittany ferries the route closed on the 7th september 2014 . poole gij n edit this service commenced on 4 january 2014 using the norman asturias . 9 the crossing time was 25 hours the route closed on the 7th september 2014 . rosslare saint nazaire edit this service commenced in january 2014 using the norman atlantic . it was also marketed as a rosslare gij n via saint nazaire service as the norman atlantic on its usual saint nazaire gij n after its round trip to rosslare . the route closed at the end of august 2014 . ramsgate ostend edit ld lines began operating this route from 18 march 2010 in partnership with transeuropa ferries using the norman spirit which has been renamed the ostend spirit . they also sold space on a transeuropa ferries vessel the larkspur . in march 2011 transeuropa ferries terminated their agreement with ld lines and the chartered norman spirit was returned to ld lines . le havre rosslare edit in november 2008 ld lines opened a weekly passenger and freight service between le havre and rosslare republic of ireland . the norman voyager operated on the route departing from le havre on fridays and returning from rosslare on saturdays . the crossing time was 20 hours . 10 a significant customer of this service was citroen who use the route to transport new cars to ireland . the route closed when norman voyager was chartered to celtic link . dover dieppe edit in february 2009 the company started sailing between dover and dieppe . the service operated daily with a journey time of around 4 hours 15 minutes using the ferry cote d albatre . this was the first time that these two ports had been connected with a ferry service . the dover dieppe service ceased on 29 june 2009 due to lack of traffic . dover boulogne edit ld lines and boulogne chamber of commerce announced on 4 july 2008 that ld lines would open a service between boulogne and dover from 1 july 2009 . 11 12 13 it was initially planned that the company would initially operate four round trips a day between the two ports using the norman spirit with a second ship joining the route at a later date . in january 2009 it was announced by ld lines that the route would start early and begin operating from 12 february 2009 using the c te d alb tre and that the norman spirit will therefore remain on the portsmouth le havre route . because the new boulogne ferry terminal was not due to be completed until july 2009 the service initially utilised the terminal formerly used by speedferries . for this service and the former dover dieppe route the c te d alb tre was chartered to ld lines from the seine maritime council . the c te d alb tre was joined in june 2009 by the 112 metre high speed catamaran norman arrow which operated four additional round trips on the route . norman arrow was built by incat and was chartered from irish based mgc chartering . she was the largest catamaran operating on the english channel . 14 norman arrow was deemed unsuccessful on the route and replaced by norman spirit in november 2009 she remained on the route until she was switched to a joint service with transeuropa ferries . norman spirit was replaced by norman bridge and norman trader . on 16 august 2010 ld lines confirmed that the norman bridge would be removed from the dover boulogne route on 31 august 2010 and would be used on the st. nazaire gijon route . the remaining services operated by the norman trader ceased on 5 september 2010 . 15 current fleet edit ld lines no longer exists . past ships edit ship built status norman asturias 2007 returned to stena roro currently on charter to inter shipping in the med . norman atlantic 2009 returned to visentini on charter to anek superfast . caught fire in december 2014 norman arrow 2009 now katexpress 1 with max mols norman trader 1998 now stena alegra with stena line norman bridge 1998 now arv3 with equinox offshore norman leader 2010 order cancelled by ld lines vessel sold to nova star cruises deal seaways 1992 returned to brittany ferries renamed barfleur norman voyager 2008 chartered to brittany ferries renamed etretat norman spirit 1991 transferred to dfds seaways france as calais seaways dieppe seaways 2002 transferred to dfds seaways france cote d albatre 2006 transferred to dfds seaways france seven sisters 2006 transferred to dfds seaways