Brittany Ferries signs 15-year deal with Guernsey
Brittany Ferries signed up for 15 years with the States of Guernsey this week with assurances from both sides that a Guernsey-only ferry service will pay its way.
‘We are confident the new schedule offers the community consistency and resilience,’ said Deputy Neil Inder on behalf of the States.
‘We can give assurance to our community, our economy, and our critical supply chain.’
He said Economic Development had selected Brittany Ferries as its preferred bidder after a detailed 10-month tender process in which its bid met all criteria set out.
‘I know we’ll be asked so I will confirm now that no public money is committed to Brittany Ferries in support of the delivery of the schedule,’ he added.
‘Brittany Ferries believes the schedule will enable it to be commercially viable and we are confident it strikes the right balance between enabling the company to achieve that while providing the lifeline services that we need.
‘This is an important step in delivering the certainty for our community that our committee set out to achieve.’
Brittany Ferries said it was providing a full financial and operational guarantee over the services in the contract.
‘We are thrilled to have signed a long-term agreement with the States of Guernsey to provide freight and passenger services,’ said chief executive Christophe Mathieu.
‘This significant milestone secures vessels, berths and timetables and much-needed certainty for all those relying on ferry services next year.
‘Since sailings were made available, we have seen more than 3,000 passengers book between the UK, France and Guernsey, providing a welcome boost for tourism, hospitality and outbound travel for islanders.’
The States is granting a licence for the island’s northern, southern and inter-island routes under a new Ro-Ro Sea Links law approved earlier this year, with permission to assign the licence to Condor Ferries.
Deputy Inder reiterated that a pan-island service would have been preferable.
‘I have consistently said that we would respect Jersey’s decision no matter which way it went,’ he said.
‘That is still the case.
‘From our perspective we are very happy to be working with Brittany Ferries and will of course work with Jersey to ensure inter-island route opportunities are fully explored.’
