BRITTANY Ferries’ fast craft Normandie Express sailed into Poole Harbour for the first time.

The high speed catamaran carried out berthing trials at the port in advance of its stint next spring when it replaces the conventional ferry Barfleur for two weeks.

It was met outside the harbour by a pilot who boarded the ferry to manoeuvre it into port for the test which took around an hour.

Barfleur is being taken out of service for two months next year to have £10million of work carried out.

The cross Channel ferry, which operates between Poole and Cherbourg, is having scrubbers fitted to remove sulphur dioxide from the exhaust, to comply with EU legislation which comes into force next year.

Work will be carried out on the 22-year-old vessel at St Nazaire from mid-March to mid-May.

The Normandie Express, which has a top speed of 42 knots, will ply the route from April 30 to May 14, after which Barfleur is due to return to its daily service.

Capable of carrying 850 passengers and 235 cars, the ferry, which normally runs from Portsmouth to Cherbourg and Caen, is slightly longer than Condor’s fast ferries which run a service between Poole and the Channel Islands.

“We are going to have her for a couple of weeks in the spring,” said Poole Harbour Commissioners harbour master Brian Murphy, “So she came in to make sure she could berth ok and the ramps for loading were ok.”

He said the vessel had not been to the port before and was around 11 metres longer than the Condor ferries that used the same ro-ro berths and about the same width.

Brittany Ferries spokesman Christopher Jones said: “This will show an additional ship that can work from Poole and to show we are prepared for it to come to Poole in May. It may come back longer term in the future,” he added.