The Poole-Gijon service closed after the final departure from Poole on 2nd September with the Poole-Santander service following suit on 6th September when the 27,414gt/1997 built Norman Asturias sailed away from the Dorset port with the final southbound sailing, seen above.

The ship made one last call on 9th September before making her final, empty departure the following afternoon having anchored in Poole Bay overnight. The ship is understood to be returning to Stena Ro-Ro for the time being and on 15th September she was noted anchored off St. Nazaire. Despite good loadings the operation simply was not making enough financial headway to stay viable.

The 26,904gt/1999 built Norman Atlantic also closed the Rosslare sailings over the final weekend of August. The closure of the Poole link saw 13 scheduled crossings cancelled. The Norman Asturias was the largest ferry to serve Poole thus far but freight volumes dropped once Brittany Ferries opened the extra once a week Portsmouth-Santander service using the 26,904gt/2008 built Etretat (formerly LD Lines’ Norman Voyager) in March followed by Transfennica opening a northbound Bilbao-Portsmouth twice weekly on the Zeebrugge-Bilbao-Zeebrugge Ro-Ro service.

Hot on the heels of this closure came the demise of LD’s “Motorways of the Sea” service when sailings were suspended from 18th September. The thrice weekly services between Nantes-Saint Nazaire in France and Gijon in northern Spain had only survived from the outset with financial subsidies despite growing freight traffic. This exit effectively sees LD Lines leave the ferry industry for now.