Fuel costs to push up Travel Trident prices next season

The ferry service is due to have its last sailing tomorrow before taking a break until March next year, following a decision made in 2021 to put an end to winter sailings.

Company manager Peter Wilcox said that the rise in fuel costs had ‘taken a smile off their faces’ this season.

‘If your standard boat fair is £15, you have to sell a number of tickets just to cover the fuel costs,’ said Mr Wilcox.

Each day the business is having to spend around £1,000 on fuel, which was said to be a massive increase compared to other years. That means nearly 70 adults need to use the service just to cover the fuel costs.

‘We could have done with putting a surcharge on tickets this year, but we are trying to hold off for as long as we can. We hope by hook or by crook that something changes with Ukraine.’

Until last year the Trident offered Christmas shopping sailings, which were free for some time and later incurred a ticket cost of around £2.

‘It’s something Herm is promoting and we wish them luck with that,’ said Mr Wilcox.

The Travel Trident has been confirming sailings at about 9am each morning on social media, as the weather becomes more unsettled.

Last year the service continued until 31 October but the company decided to end the season on the last day of half term this year.

Islanders and tourists are still trying to squeeze in one more trip before the season ends.

Leeds residents Sarah and John Devlin visited Herm for the first time yesterday.

‘We just had a walk around the island and went to the chapel and things,’ said Mrs Devlin, who works in school administration.

‘We’d like to go to Sark at some point.’

She said if they visited Guernsey again they would definitely be interested in doing a winter trip.

Damon Blake, of Delta Events, had hopped on the boat to retrieve some sound equipment that he thought may have been left in Herm after an event some two months ago.

‘We were trying to find our equipment that was taken there.’ And luckily they were able to find the kit.

Travel Trident sailings for 2023 will restart at the end of March or early April.

The Isle of Herm, the island’s own ferry, will continue to operate throughout the winter.

‘Bookings are looking really good, particularly the Christmas bookings as we are doing Christmas lunches,’ said Herm CEO Craig Senior.

He said the island would be promoting trips to Herm during the winter for a short break on the Isle of Herm.