Harbour no bar to Trident's Sark bid

THERE is no obvious reason why Sark's harbour could not cope with two operators, a hearing heard yesterday. Trident Charter has applied to compete on the Guernsey to Sark route and also link in Herm, but questions have been raised about Maseline Harbour's capacity to cope.

Trident is facing stiff opposition from current sole operator Isle of Sark Shipping, which is owned by Chief Pleas.

A shipping review to decide whether to allow competition opened in Guernsey and moves on to Sark today, where the two companies involved will outline their cases.

Guernsey harbour master Captain Peter Gill was asked by Trident's counsel, Advocate Gordon Dawes, whether there was any reason why, with proper organisation, Maseline should not be used by two operators rather than one.

Captain Gill said there was not, but added that it was not for him to tell Sark how to run its harbour.

'The harbours could be busy at times, but there must be scope to manage arrivals and departures.

'Communication with and between vessels is very limited indeed.'

That is because Sark does not use VHF.

But Captain Gill added that he would need to look in detail at how the harbour was used.

The review was established under the 1951 law that requires the Lt-Governor to make a decision on such applications.

Captain Gill also told the hearing that both the Isle of Sark and Trident boats were subject to the same wave-height operating restrictions - some written submissions had questioned how suitable Trident's catamarans were for the route.

Dr Jonathan Spencer is chairing the review and said it would look beyond the licence application.

'The existence of a licensing law implies that not all applications for licences will necessarily be granted, therefore there's some form of control regime,' said Dr Spencer.

'For the purpose of this review I propose to go right back and explore whether the law should remain as it is, might be amended in some way or be repealed altogether.'

Island Rib Voyages has used the review to again apply to drop passengers off in Sark, having been turned down three times.

There are currently three licences available for smaller vessels, but these appear to be given each year by the Lt-Governor's office to the incumbent holders.

Island Rib Voyages' John Wills said the company would offer a charter service for people who wanted to get to Sark quickly and would also like to be able to drop off passengers when it does its tours of Sark's coastline.

He questioned whether handing out four licences would have any real impact.

The Jersey arm of the company could operate without restrictions into Sark.

Herm manager Adrian Heyworth painted a bleak picture of the future, with tourist numbers consistently falling.

He believed that in five to 10 years' time, there would be just one operator running to both Herm and Sark.

Mr Heyworth praised the service offered to Herm by Trident and would welcome a link with Sark. He believed both islands would benefit.