LD Lines

Le Havre–Portsmouth

LD Lines' English Channel operations commenced in October 2005, operating between Portsmouth Harbour, England and Le Havre, France. This service was introduced following the withdrawal of P&O Ferries' long-standing operation on this route.

Initially there was one sailing per day in each direction, with the Portsmouth–Le Havre sailing taking place overnight. This utilised one vessel, the MS Norman Spirit, which is ironically a former P&O vessel (used on its Dover–Calais route until May 2005). In 2008 the Norman Voyager was introduced on the route, she was withdrawn in September 2009 and chartered to Celtic Link Ferries for service between Cherbourg and Rosslare and Cherbourg and Portsmouth. In November 2009 Norman Spirit was moved to the Dover–Boulogne route, her place was taken by Cote d'Albatre, which remained on the route until the Norman Spirit return in 2011.

On 13 July 2007 it was reported that LD Lines had ordered a new ro-pax ferry for the route from Singapore Technologies Engineering, with an option for another ship of the same type. The ship, the Norman Leader, was to be capable of carrying 1215 passengers and enter service in 2010 on the Le Havre–Portsmouth route. On 17 March 2011, the contract for the purchase of the vessel was cancelled. Reasons given for the cancellation were the delays and questions about the tonnage. The Norman Spirit resumed sailing on the Portsmouth–Le Havre route in early 2011, but was chartered to DFDS Seaways in November 2011 to increase capacity on the Dover–Dunkirk route following the collapse of SeaFrance. Norman Spirit's place was taken by the Norman Voyager.

The Portsmouth-Le Havre service was transferred to DFDS Seaways France in 2013, fully marketed as a DFDS Seaways route.

DFDS announced in September 2014 that it would discontinue the route due to its unprofitability, and its last crossing was on 31 December 2014.

Dieppe–Newhaven

LD Lines was one of five companies invited to tender for the operation of Transmanche Ferries service between Dieppe and Newhaven. P&O Stena Line operated the route until 1998 after which Hoverspeed operated the route until 2004. Because the French government did not want the route to be lost, they started a new subsidised company by the name of Transmanche Ferries in April 2001. After five years of successful service and the arrival of two newbuilds, the government decided to tender the line in a concession. The contract to operate the service was awarded to LD Lines on 21 December 2006. For this service they were slated to receive an annual subsidy of up to €14.6 million. LD Lines commenced sailings on this route on 1 May 2007. In addition to three round trips between Dieppe and the Port of Newhaven, LD Lines started a single round trip per day between Le Havre and Newhaven during high season using the MS Seven Sisters. However, in August 2008 they announced that this service would not be continued. Currently there are two sailings per day each way, (3 in high season) using the Cote d'Albatre and Seven Sisters.

The Dieppe-Newhaven service was transferred to DFDS Seaways France in 2013 and is now fully marketed as a DFDS Seaways route.

Dover–Calais

LD Lines and DFDS Seaways announced on 7 February 2012 that they would be launching a joint service between Dover and Calais, commencing on 17 February 2012, using the Norman Spirit. The two companies had previously submitted a joint bid for the assets of SeaFrance which was turned down. DFDS later chartered the Barfleur from Brittany Ferries to increase the number of sailings on the new route, she was replaced by the Dieppe Seaways.