P&O’s second new ferry for the Dover-Calais route, the Spirit of France, has arrived in Dover. The Spirit of France is an identical sister ship to the Sprirt of Britain, which entered service in January 2011.

Picture courtesy of Canterbury Chris / Flickr

The two new ferries, which cost €180m each, are the largest ever built for operation in the Dover Straits and provide nearly double the capacity of the ships they replace, the Pride of Dover and the Pride of Calais.

The Spirit of France can carry up to 180 lorries and 195 cars, plus 1,750 passengers. It has a whopping 3,746m of vehicle lanes – if loaded only with cars, it could carry more than 1,000, as opposed to 650 on the current ferries. P&O plans to keep the two new ferries in service on this route for the next 25 years, mirroring the successful careers of the two Pride ships.

The Spirit of France is expected to enter service in mid-February – apparently, the first available booking date is currently on the 1520 sailing on 9th February 2012.