Following another spat this week, with Jersey operator DFDS withdrawing inter-island sailings, which led to a riposte that they had not even been licensed by Guernsey, there are concerns that ongoing disputes could damage Channel Islands tourism.
Marcus Calvani, co-chief executive of the Jersey Hospitality Association, said the industry body hoped a new government following next month’s election in Jersey would present a chance to ‘patch up’ inter-island relations.
‘We should be working to protect the Channel Islands as a whole,’ he told the Jersey Evening Post.
‘We need to be understanding of the fact that Guernsey are in the situation that they’re in, we’re in a different situation and we can’t be expecting everybody to always be aligned.
‘But in general, if we can always find a common solution that benefits the Channel Islands, we believe – and so does the Guernsey Hospitality Association – that economically, and for our islanders, we will be in a better place if we work together.’
Deputy Moz Scott, a former assistant minister at Economic Development in Jersey, who quit in part due to frustrations over Jersey’s handling of the ferry tender process, said that it was understandable why Guernsey would look at the practical issues in respect of DFDS’s proposal to offer a weekend sailing that would have kept St Peter Port harbour open way past its usual operating hours.
She said that there were challenges – and costs – resulting from the islands choosing different ferry companies, and said that senior politicians in Jersey ‘should be looking at how there can be a negotiated transition towards a single operator’.
Ian Cuming, chairman of the Jersey Sports Council, has also told the Jersey Evening Post that both islands need a regular year-round passenger and car ferry service between the islands. He said politicians in both islands should urge DFDS and Brittany Ferries to work together to find solutions, and that need not be reciprocal ‘day trips’.
‘Invite both operators to propose services between the islands which they anticipate might be commercially successful,’ he said.