A new ferry service linking Scotland and France for the first time could set sail in just a few a months.
The route, from Rosyth to Dunkirk, nicknamed ‘Project Brave’, was first proposed in 2022, but stalled in 2025.
Funding issues, as well as the need to build a new border control facility at Rosyth, to allow the processing of food and drink, halted the project.
However, in May 2025, Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed a new agreement with the European Union, which resolved this key obstacle at the border.
Now, ferry company DFDS has said that operations could begin as soon as spring of 2026.
Now, however, ferry company DFDS has said that with renewed invigoration, operations could begin as soon as spring of this year.
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The proposed journey between Rosyth, near Edinburgh, and Dunkirk in northern France will run three weekly return trips with a journey time of around 20 hours.
It would become one of the longest sea journeys in Europe.
Currently, the longest journey across the continent is Portsmouth to Bilbao, Spain, which lasts between 27 and 30 hours.
Speaking in Westminster in November 2024, Scottish MP Graeme Downie suggested £3 million in funding was needed to set up the service.
He said: ‘It is estimated the direct ferry link would initially carry 51,000 passengers a year, rising to 79,000, bringing an additional £11.5 million of spend to the Scottish economy.’
The new route seeks to re-establish both passenger and freight links between Scotland and mainland Europe, boosting trade, tourism and economic growth.
One of the primary barriers to the project had been the need for a new border control post facility in Rosyth – where certain goods could be processed. Due to costs, this ultimately proved increasingly difficult.
For tourists, the journey will offer an alternative way of travelling to the continent, with the possibility of taking a vehicle on the crossing too.
A similar transport link previously provided a ferry service between Rosyth and Zeebrugge, in Belgium, first launching in 2002.
The service, which took around 17 hours and was initially operated by Superfast Ferries, was reduced from four to three times per week in 2005 due to lack of demand, and discontinued entirely in 2008.
In 2009, Norfolkline, a subsidiary of Danish company DFDS, picked the route back up again, only to pull the passenger service the following year, citing insufficient demand.
DFDS continued to run a freight-only service between Rosyth and Zeebrugge until 2018, when it closed following a fire onboard its freight ship.
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