Fast ferry services cancelled for the first three months of 2021

A spokesperson said the decision to pare back the services in January, February and March was due to continuing travel and quarantine restrictions.

'We are continuing to see extremely low demand following the movement of both France and the UK into national lockdowns and border controls, which are affecting travel volumes to and from the Channel Islands,' they said.

'Following recent discussions with the Government of Jersey and States of Guernsey on the financial implications of maintaining unsustainable passenger sailings during the winter, Condor will not operate high speed services from St Malo and Poole until April 2021. However, Commodore Clipper will continue to provide daily passenger and vehicle capacity to Portsmouth and on Saturdays to St Malo where forward booking demand on the southern route is extremely low.'

High speed services will operate for the rest of December, but these sailings have been revised.

'Booking demand has also understandably fallen significantly in this period,' the spokesperson said.

'Any minor timetable changes will be communicated early this week. Condor remains absolutely committed to a fuller schedule resumption as soon as restrictions lift and travel normalcy returns. Currently there is no certainty when any easing of controls will be possible. These are, of course, exceptional and unprecedented times so Condor will continue to liaise closely with the Channel Islands’ governments to ensure sea connectivity services are robust and viable during the pandemic.'

Freight services to and from the islands remain unchanged.

Quarantine restrictions have dramatically reduced demand for ferry and plane services. In October 748 people used the Guernsey - Poole route. This compares with 9,481 in October last year. Overall demand on the route in 2020 has dropped by 94% for the year from January to October, when compared with the same period in 2019. St Malo has seen a similar slump, with a 96% drop in passengers.