What is believed to be the heaviest cargo ever carried by Brittany Ferries, and certainly the heaviest handled by the ro-ro freighter Cotentin (2007/22,542gt) and the Port of Poole, arrived at the Dorset port from Cherbourg on the morning of 25 June.
The cargo was a 121-tonne block of granite, which was on its way by lorry from the south of France to London’s Natural History Museum to become a memorial to the 151 British victims of the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami, in which more than 230,000 people lost their lives. The entire shipment, weighing nearly 208 tonnes and measuring 136m in length, needed approval from Brittany Ferries Technical Department as well as the relevant port authorities to ensure it could be safely handled.