Discussions are ongoing at officer level, but the president of Economic Development and the president of Policy & Resources are being regularly kept informed, Deputy Peter Ferbrache told the Guernsey Press.
‘The discussions are continuing for the island to formalise an agreement with Condor about its future services very soon,’ he said.
At this stage it is not known whether that agreement would be a joint one for both of the Channel Islands with Condor, or Jersey and Guernsey separately with the ferry company.
Currently Jersey has a binding agreement with Condor and while Guernsey has an understanding with the company, Deputy Ferbrache hoped that in the first half of 2021 a detailed agreement would be signed by both parties, outlining the service arrangements for the next 10, 15 or 20 years.
In June 2017, when Deputy Ferbrache was the president of Economic Development, he told the States that his committee ‘certainly’ would not sign a new memorandum of understanding with Condor and was ‘doubtful of doing it in the future’.
When asked yesterday what had changed, he said: ‘The world has changed, Condor has changed.
‘A binding agreement would have performance indicators and is intended to make the service better and custom-built for the island’s needs for the next 15 to 20 years.’
It would look at things like service levels, scheduling and reliability.
‘I’m not saying Condor hasn’t provided that in the last few years, but we just want to take it to a formal level, given what has happened through 2020,’ Deputy Ferbrache said.
Making it clear he did not speak for Jersey, he did say that he believes the sister island is also looking to negotiate.
In a brief statement on the matter, Condor CEO Paul Luxon said: ‘As we have shown throughout the pandemic, Condor remains absolutely committed to providing the best possible sea connectivity across the three parts of our business – essential freight, travel for islanders and the visitor economy – and looks forward to continuing these discussions for the benefit of all parties.’
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