Full steam ahead for day trips to Jersey

After the disappointment of last year, when Guernsey suddenly got nervous about its level of commitment and cast Jersey adrift in mid-Channel, it seemed the whole venture might be scuppered.

With the Committee for Economic Development ‘distracted’ at present it would have been easy to miss the boat.

However, last week’s tender brings the day-trip summer service closer to reality with a planned start date of the beginning of May running through until September.

It is an ambitiously short timescale to get something in place which has been a thorn in the side of governments for years.

The timing of the contract may be key. ‘For 2018 and beyond’ is vague and, unless clarified, might prove a sticking point for potential investors. Putting together a crew and vessel would presumably be far easier with the security of a longer contract than one season.

Perhaps the two governments do not want to be too narrow in their offer and hope to give prospective operators as much reason to participate as possible.

However, a short contract could be to the benefit of an established island ferry service such as Condor, which, assuming they bid, will be competing hard for the business and would have lower initial set-up costs than most.

Given recent history, not all islanders will be thrilled at that prospect. Condor had the opportunity – as did everyone else, to be fair – to offer a timely inter-island day service as part of its schedule years ago but chose not to make that investment.

Nevertheless, it would be foolish to rule any operators out and islanders will be happy just to get a functional, reliable return service to Jersey at a reasonable price and with a convenient schedule.

If the best offer to do that comes from Condor so be it.

Once established, islanders can once again look forward to long, lazy days in St Helier and beyond playing sports or enjoying restaurants, shops and bars without one eye being permanently on the clock.