How to make Condor better

The best service, when it runs, is the overnight Clipper, arriving at about 0700 at Portsmouth. This service runs in almost all weather conditions and means you can drive to anywhere in the UK without having to go straight into a hotel.

I would like to propose the following changes to allow Condor to use their existing fleet while providing the service that islanders and visitors want, and to provide the missing day trips.

1. Convert the Goodwill to the same specification as the Clipper. This is easy as they are sister ships.

2. Service the UK/Guernsey/Jersey routes with these two vessels each making a slow overnight trip, one northbound and one southbound and the two vessels each then making a fast daytime return trip.

3. Condor would make up any freight overflow from the Goodwill by purchasing or chartering a small container-carrying coaster. Alternatively, they could let the existing coasters carry this extra freight.

4. This schedule would then allow the Rapide and the Liberation to service the Guernsey/Jersey/St Malo route.

5. The Liberation would then be free to run the much-needed summer day trips between Guernsey, Jersey and the UK.

This should probably be a minimum of two weekly day trips UK to Guernsey and Jersey and two weekly day trips Jersey to Guernsey and the UK.

This would satisfy the inter-island day-trip requirement both ways and then the islands to the UK both ways.

R. F. WHARTON, (Mr),

Chairman,

Boatworks+ Ltd,

Castle Emplacement,

St Peter Port,

GY1 1AU.

Editor’s footnote: Ian Le Moigne, media relations manager of Condor Ferries, responds: Condor Liberation has proved this year to be extremely reliable. Over the course of the past eight months, Liberation has operated 97.3% of all departures and on only three days in 2017 has she suffered from technical issues which have required cancelling a sailing.

Passengers using all forms of transport – air, sea, rail and road – experience some cancellations or delays from time to time, though of course we try to minimise these through our asset health programme and reduce their impact on passengers through proactive communications by SMS, email and outbound calls.

Furthermore, the Condor fleet’s performance and punctuality figures are published each month on our website and can be viewed here: http://www.condorferries.co.uk/performance.

Your correspondent provides some interesting suggestions on scheduling the Condor fleet and for servicing individual routes.

This is a very complex process which requires balancing the needs of the passenger market with the needs of freight services, plus the constraints of crew hours of work and rest, tides (notably in Jersey, St Malo and to a lesser extent, Guernsey), berth availability and maintenance.

The basing of our fleet is also a major consideration, not just for route timetabling but for access to qualified crew, engineers, technicians and spare parts.

The suggestion that Condor should purchase additional conventional ships and ships being positioned permanently in either Guernsey or Jersey were both addressed in the Comprehensive Service Review published in November 2016 and your correspondent can read this document in full by following this link: http://www.condorferries.co.uk/news/?m=11&y=2016.