Sark Shipping ‘not consulted about a new technical director’

In a letter to all conseillers, signed by managing director Mark Roffey and non-executive director Andrew Ozanne, which has been seen by the Guernsey Press, the company said that the appointment had been made ‘outside of the formal process that Chief Pleas instructed to be established’.

The company, which is owned by Sark’s government, has already been at loggerheads with the politicians and some islanders in recent months.

At the beginning of October all of the company’s non-executive directors resigned after being warned that Policy & Finance chairman John Guille and other senior politicians in Sark were preparing to remove them after they wrote to conseillers alleging political ineptitude and interference in the running of the company.

Then later that month the company was forced to backtrack after a reduced winter timetable was heavily criticised.

The saga concluded with an extraordinary meeting where Chief Pleas voted unanimously that P&F and the Harbours Committee should agree on a ‘formal, rigorous and transparent procedure’ with the company for the appointment of new non-executive directors.

In a recent development, the company announced that, within three weeks of the new agreement, the chairs of both committees had given written instructions to proceed with the appointment of a non-executive technical director, both outside and prior to the new formal process.

The letter went on to say that the proposed appointee was understood to be a close associate of Conseiller Guille, and noted that the person was not selected by the previous board.

It was also claimed that the individual was being tasked by the shareholder representatives of Chief Pleas to review ‘the wider technical operations of the company’ and report directly to them.

‘This is a serious departure from established governance principles and from the structure of authority set out in the company’s articles, memorandum of understanding and service level agreement’, it added.

Mr Roffey and Mr Ozanne wrote that the appointment had implications for the company’s independence, stability, governance, reputation, operation, finances and ability to get insurance.

They urged Chief Pleas to pause any appointment until the ‘formal, rigorous and transparent procedure mandated by your resolution has been agreed and implemented’.

In response. a spokesman for Chief Pleas said that although it did not normally comment on ‘leaked’ documents, it could confirm that the topic of a senior technical role within IOSS was not new, and had been recommended as far back as a 2020 report into the company.

‘Chief Pleas’ Harbours, Shipping & Pilotage Committee, and Policy & Finance Committee, along with Mr Ozanne, agree that the role needs to be filled by a Guernsey-based engineering professional,’ he said.

‘Given IoSS’s scale and operational characteristics, this is particularly important. Although this has previously been agreed in a meeting with the IoSS board, we are ready and willing to meet with IoSS again to discuss these concerns constructively and to assist in finalising the process.’