The Portuguese archipelago of Madeira has gotten its ferry service back after a six-year gap, but at least for now it’s a summer-only proposition, as the ferry will not make winter stops at Funchal on its way to the Canary Islands.
The ferry operator dropped the stop in 2012, claiming that port costs at Madeira made the route unprofitable. The Madeira regional government put out a request this year for an operator, and the operator, Naviera Armas, a Spanish company signed on for a subsidized deal.
It’s the same company that dropped the service in 2012, making air travel the only practical route, and causing a problem for those who wanted to bring their cars with them. The ferry used on the route can carry up to 300 cars.
It’s not a fast route, though: the ferry will leave the Canaries on Sundays, stop at Funchal on Monday and reach Portimao on the mainland on Tuesdays; the return trip leaves later the same day, so those planning short trips to the islands will still be heading for the airport.
(Editor’s note: an earlier version of this report incorrectly stated the route and omitted a number of details.)
Apologies: an uncorrected version of the report appeared early this morning. Conflicting partial reports from earlier in the spring, along with difficulty in translation, led to the error. The corrected version appears above.