Services meet critical needs – Condor review
CONDOR'S services meet the two critical needs as laid down in its agreements with Jersey and Guernsey, its first comprehensive service review has found.
These are to provide a safe, compliant and sustainable lifeline ferry service for both freight and passengers and a reliable year-round freight service.
But the review also found that the company's services are fully aligned with only four of the nine key needs.
They include the prioritisation of freight services and the continuation of high speed travel to and from the UK and France.
The 212-page review, which it worked on with the States of Guernsey and Jersey, also reveals that it does not see a need to replace the frequently criticised Liberation fast ferry, particularly in light of favourable independent reports from the Jersey harbour master and safety consultants.
But it will look to replace Condor Rapide with another fast ferry for St Malo and is open to the idea of a similar type of ship to the Clipper, which carries passengers as well as freight, when the time comes to replace the freight-only Goodwill.
A dedicated inter-island service will not happen unless subsidies are offered by the two islands.
Such a service would need more than 273,000 passengers a year to be a financial success, the review says, while the historic maximum is just over 99,000.
