Guernsey Press

Clipper to replace Liberation for six days from Monday

CONDOR'S Liberation fast ferry will be taken out of service for essential maintenance from Monday, it has been announced.

Published
Commodore Clipper will be taking over the Poole-Channel Islands route from the Liberation between Monday 13 and Saturday 18 May.

The ferry started experiencing problems with one of its engines last week, and Condor announced at the weekend that the decision had been taken to use Commodore Clipper between Poole and the islands for six days from Monday 13 May, and operate the Portsmouth operation with its chartered freight vessel, MV Arrow.

The Clipper relocated to Poole over the weekend and will provide cross-channel passenger services starting from until Saturday 18 May while engineers continue to work on Liberation's faulty engine.

‘We are disappointed that the repair to Liberation is taking longer than anticipated but the additional capacity brought in and our revised schedule is in line with published contingency plans and will maintain passenger and freight services across our network,' said Condor CEO Paul Luxon.

Commodore Clipper will sail from Poole on Monday to Friday at 10.30am to Guernsey, arriving at 4.30pm, then on to Jersey at 7.15pm, returning at 10pm before sailing back to Poole to arrive at 9.30am the next day.

Saturday will see a similar pattern, but with a departure from Poole at 9am.

MV Arrow will take over the Clipper's round-trip to Guernsey and Jersey from Portsmouth over the same period.

Liberation is due to return to service on Sunday 19 May and will run on two engines until 24 May while repairs are completed.

‘We believe that with this plan in place, the overwhelming majority of passengers will be accommodated and freight customers will see limited change to services’, said Mr Luxon.

Condor’s customer care teams are contacting passengers to offer a transfer to one of the alternative sailings, where space allows, or to receive a full refund.