Inter-island ferry service demands ‘unrealistic’

Inter-island ferry service demands ‘unrealistic’

Manche Iles Express was recently announced as the preferred bidder of a new service which would increase the number of crossings between the islands during the spring and autumn.

Ahead of the tender announcement, the company had already scheduled 49 day-return journeys from Jersey and seven from Guernsey for between April and October.

Hugues Gros, director of Manche-Iles Express, said that he recently met representatives from Jersey’s and Guernsey’s governments to discuss adding more day-return trips under the new service but claimed the number of additional crossings being proposed was not feasible.

He said that adding 14 day-return trips from Jersey to Guernsey and 21 from Guernsey to Jersey during the whole of the spring and summer to the current schedule was more reasonable.

Although Economic Development have declined to reveal the exact number of additional crossings they want, the department’s minister, Lyndon Farnham, said that ideally he would want one return crossing per day or three or four per week.

Mr Gros said: ‘We are confident that more crossings can be added but nobody knows what is happening now.’

He added that once a decision is made, they would be able to react quickly and the only issue would be printing revised timetable booklets.

‘We put an offer to the States but they cannot choose from the potential dates. They need fewer, more appropriate dates,’ he said.

‘If we were to run all of the services they wanted, some of the crossings would be empty. It is not realistic.

‘We can react very quickly. We have the crew and the ferries ready but we need to print new flyers [timetables] and May is only one month away.’

Earlier this year, Senator Farnham initially said he did not believe that Manche Iles Express would require any States subsidy to run the new enhanced service. He later said it may need some funding – up to £100,000 from Jersey – in its first year.

However, the level of any funding provided by Guernsey remains unclear. Last week, Guernsey’s Economic Development president Charles Parkinson said his committee ‘are not willing to invest significant public money into increasing the number of Guernsey to Jersey day trips’.

Senator Farnham said that he was still waiting to hear back from Manche Iles Express and would then make a final decision alongside the States of Guernsey on the enhanced service.

He added: ‘I would love to have a day return every day of each week but if that is going to cost the tax payer £1 million then it is obviously not feasible.

‘If we can do three or four day-returns a week for £100,000 then I think that would be more sensible.’

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