The Spirit of Britain entered Dover Harbour for the first time on the 9th of January 2011. She had her launch yesterday after being named by twice gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes. We’re bringing you a brief summary of some of the more impressive facts about this mammoth vessel.

Spirit of France and the Spirit of Britain are junior to any other ferry in the fleet at Dover by 4 years. The oldest being the Pride of Calais which is due to be withdrawn from service this year for the Spirit of France to takeover.

P&O’s new ferry is larger than the London ‘gherkin’ by 18 metres, measuring a whopping 213 metres in total. The overall cost of this ferry was £157m.

She runs at a total speed of 22 knots a slightly, roughly 25 miles per hour, and has a deadweight of 9,118 tons. It took about 3 years from contract signing until the Spirit of Britain sailed in to Dover Harbour.

The bridge section was constructed separately and lifted into position this time last year.

Expansion of ferries has consistently grown since 1904 when the first car across the channel. The Spirit of Britain has near 56% greater tonnage then the Pride of Canterbury but will hold the same passenger capacity of 2000. The greater tonnage will go to support the 50 more Lorries and 350 more cars then the Pride of Canterbury can carry.

So what’s next for ferries? Designs are drawn up for double-ended vessels so there’ll be less delay now that the ferry won’t have to turn around in harbour. The Spirit of Britain and The Spirit of France are the first new ferries for four years so expect a bit of wait before any new ships start across the channel.

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