Alderney needs a ferry-tale ending

ALDERNEY'S tourism chiefs face a nervous wait today as experts decide whether to allow a new ferry service to run to the island. HD Ferries has applied to operate a regular sailing linking the northern isle with Guernsey, Jersey and France.

Harbour master Steve Shaw yesterday met company officials in Guernsey where he carried out a full safety and feasibility check on the HD1 catamaran.

'We expect him to be in a position to announce the results of this very soon,' an Alderney Harbour Authority spokesman said.

'Depending on the outcome, he will then decide whether to carry out further checks which would include a berthing trial in the island.'

If HD Ferries, which launched with a Guernsey-Jersey-St Malo service in March, gets the go-ahead from Mr Shaw, a surge in visitors to Alderney is expected.

Richard Cox, the States member in charge of tourism, said the new link was 'essential'.

'I think it would be absolutely excellent. Some States members have recently been discussing whether the island could afford to run its own ferry, but it wasn't realistic,' he said.

'A regular ferry is just what we need both for residents and visitors and we would welcome HD's proposed services to Guernsey, Jersey and Cherbourg.

'It also underlines just how important the renovation of the Commercial Quay is and what an absolute necessity it is to get started on that project.'

Former Alderney Museum curator Peter Arnold is also backing HD Ferries' bid.

He believes the service would help reverse the sharp decline in tourism over the past three decades.

'We used to get about 7,000 visitors to the museum a year in the early 1970s, but that was before the introduction of cheap flights to places like the Mediterranean.

'Now the museum only gets half that number and the proposed sea link would definitely help get that figure rising again.'

* HD Ferries was unavailable for comment yesterday.