MS Stena Baltica (2007)

• Poole–Cherbourg
• Poole–Santander Weekend service

When the order for Cotentin in 2005 was announced it was not made clear which route the vessel would be placed on. The French press released stated that she would be for the Portsmouth–Cherbourg and run to Santander at the weekends route while the English press release simply stated that she would be used in the Cherbourg route and to Spain at the weekend.

An October 2006 article in International Freighting Weekly included comments from a Brittany Ferries executive which suggested that the ship would be placed on the Poole–Cherbourg route and that the timetable currently operated by Coutances would be amended to give more "social" departure times, specifically changing the 02:00 summer time departure from Cherbourg.[3]

Up to mid-July 2007 the Brittany Ferries Freight timetable showed a two-ship service on Poole–Cherbourg after the delivery of Cotentin, and no Portsmouth–Cherbourg sailings, indicating the company's intention to place the ship on the Poole–Cherbourg route alongside Barfleur. Newspaper articles covering the launch of the vessel stated that the vessel would primarily be used on the Poole route. Despite the initial announcement that the ship would run to Santander at the weekend a decision had not been made at the time as to whether this will be the ships Spanish destination due to port fees. Other ports that were in the running to receive Cotentin were Bilbao and Gijon.

On 21 July 2007 it was announced by Brittany Ferries that Cotentin would operate from Poole,[4] a partially amended timetable for the Poole–Cherbourg route had been posted prior to the announcement though Cotentin sailings were absent until the delivery date was confirmed. The amendments allowed for Cotentin's Poole–Santander weekend sailings.

The 2008 timetable revealed on 12 September 2007 showed Cotentin entering service in mid-November 2007 on the Poole–Cherbourg route with services to Santander commencing shortly after. Initially the 2008 timetable showed that after Christmas Cotentin would move to the Caen route to provide refit cover for Mont St Michel before returning to Poole. Her place on the Cherbourg and Santander route was to have been taken by Bretagne, however shortly after its release the timetable was edited and Cotentin will remain on the Cherbourg and Santander routes throughout January. From mid-May 2008 Cotentin will commence the new summer timetable with sailings on the Cherbourg route carried out in 3 hours 45 minutes as opposed to the previous 4 hours 30 mins on Coutances. The crossing time was extended after a short time operating the new timetable as a fuel saving measure.

MV Cotentin under construction at Aker Finnyards Helsinki New Shipyard

In 2013 Cotentin was chartered to Stena Line for their service between Karlskrona, Sweden and Gdynia, Poland. She was renamed Stena Baltica and transferred from French to British flag with London as port of registry.[1]

Amid rumours that the vessel would return to Brittany Ferries after the charter to Stena Line expired at the end of October 2020, the vessel emerged from dry dock in Gdansk in Brittany Ferries new livery and later departed for Le Havre where the vessel was later renamed Cotentin again and reflagged back to Cherbourg, France.

It was confirmed that Cotentin would enter service from January 2021 between Poole and Cherbourg providing extra capacity as part of the companies Brexit capacity agreement with the UK Government. It was then confirmed that the vessel would move to the Portsmouth to Le Havre service in March 2021 replacing the Etretat which would be returned to Stena RoRo having itself been replaced at Poole by fleetmate Barfleur with the arrangement lasting until June 2021.

It is not yet clear what would happen to the vessel after this however any replacement of Barfleur or rebuilding to ROPAX service had been ruled out.