Neil Inder’s comments follow Jersey’s minister for sustainable economic development Kirsten Morel appearing on the Brands and Leaders podcast in which he was questioned about the tender process, which ended with Jersey opting to choose DFDS while Guernsey went with Brittany Ferries/Condor.
‘The most impressive thing about [the podcast] was the interviewer,’ said Deputy Inder.
‘I can’t say the same about the interviewee. Just before the Jersey election, Morel is trotting out the same nonsense he has for the past couple of years. In short, in typical political style, it’s nothing to do with him and it’s all Guernsey’s fault.’
Deputy Morel claimed that after Guernsey chose Brittany Ferries it refused to talk to the other island but Deputy Inder said that this was ‘simply not true’.
‘What he probably means is the plan hatched by Jersey Ports and Morel to bring Guernsey into line didn’t work. A week or so before our decision I made a number of attempts to contact Morel directly and he went dark on me. One minute we are speaking regularly the next minute we were ghosted.’
The committee had to make a decision: ‘It was evident that under no circumstances was Jersey going to appoint Brittany Ferries. Morel told me this directly a few weeks before our committee had its final papers.’
It was clear that Jersey wanted to be rid of two companies – Brittany Ferries and Ferryspeed.
Jersey had issues with the Condor brand, said Deputy Inder, and he was seriously concerned at its attitude, even before the tender process began.
‘I was told that they were considering triggering a fail clause in the operating agreement. That would have meant that the Condor entity would have collapsed overnight. They imagined that they would then pick up the fleet for a fee and would be up and running within a week with another provider.
‘That was probably one of the more insane moments of the process. I said either at that meeting or another: “you do that and the French will weld those boats to their [expletive] quays”.
‘I mean seriously, that’s what Jersey was planning – a detonation of our whole island services and a belief that everything would be alright in a week. That is what I was dealing with and those were the insane triggers that Ports and their political runner were considering.’
Both islands took a different view when it came to finances, and Guernsey did not see the same risks as Jersey did but that did not make Guernsey wrong, he said.
‘Guernsey just took a different position and saw less risk.
‘Jersey weighted their decision towards the Condor financial position and, from memory, Guernsey weighted their decision towards the Brittany Ferries financial position.’
Today, Guernsey is in the second year of Brittany Ferries’ full schedule and Deputy Inder said the bookings are looking ‘very good indeed’.
‘We have a great service from a great company that loves its region and the islands,’ he said, adding that he remained grateful to Deputies Lyndon Trott and Peter Ferbrache, both former presidents of Policy & Resources, his own former committee and the various officers across different departments who had had many sleepless nights but got the service to where it is today.
‘[On Wednesday] with no sense of irony, passengers from Jersey booked Brittany Ferries to Guernsey, sat on the vessel and carried on to St Malo, because DFDS had cancelled its sailings. Maybe Deputy Morel should just say “Thank you Guernsey”.’
The current president of Economic Development, Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller, did not want to respond to Deputy Morel’s latest comments.
Nigel Wonnacott, head of external affairs at Brittany Ferries, said that the company ‘didn’t waste too much time watching this [podcast].
‘But we think the voters of Jersey will see it for what it is: a man engulfed in a tide of cancelled services, higher prices, phantom inter-island tickets and a bucket full of failed promises, desperately treading water before Jersey residents go to the polls.’
n Jersey holds its general election of senators, deputies and constables tomorrow. Deputy Morel is one of four candidates standing for three deputy seats in the St John, St Lawrence and Trinity district.