Fred. Olsen Express, Baleària to Link Huelva and the Canary Islands

Spanish ferry companies Fred. Olsen Express and Baleària, through its alliance Canary Bridge Seaways (CBS), will launch the new route between the Canary Islands and Huelva on November 11.

According to a press release from Baleària, there will be three weekly rotations with two vessels that will guarantee a comprehensive, reliable and quality service.

The route will be triangular between the ports of Huelva, La Luz in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Departures from the Peninsula will be Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 8 p.m. while from the Canary Islands, they will be Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 12 p.m. from Las Palmas and 8 p.m. from Tenerife.

These times guarantee connections with other inter-island traffic lines to provide customers with a comprehensive service, it said. Two ships will be used for the route.

One of them, the Clipper Pennant, will be exclusively for cargo and the other, the Martín i Soler, will carry passengers, vehicles and cargo. They will be alternated on route departures so there will be three cargo-only departures and another three passenger and cargo departures every two weeks.

Fred. Olsen Express and Baleària have worked closely in recent months with the port authorities in Cádiz and Huelva who have shown interest, immense availability and support for this new project as both were completely valid alternatives.

However, the port of Huelva was chosen in the end for logistics and commercial reasons. As far as the island ports where the authorities have also shown support, the final details are being worked out relating to docking and port operations areas.

Baleària’s Martín i Soler is a ferry that was built in 2009 measuring 165 meters long with a capacity for 1,200 people, 330 passenger cars and 1,185 linear meters of cargo. It offers several accommodation options (seats, superior seats and double and quadruple cabins) and a wide variety of on-board services including restaurants and cafés, Wi-Fi, a pool, a shop and more.

On the other hand, the Clipper Pennant is a cargo-specific ship. It will be able to meet the current cargo transport demand as well as take some of the goods transport from the passenger ship which will then have more space for passenger cars.