For Guernsey read Aurigny, and for Sark, read Isle of Sark Shipping. The similarities are striking.
The company has clearly been going through the wringer in recent times, leading to proposed cutbacks and disputes with its Sark customers, but now, at risk of defaulting over a £300,000 loan from shareholder Chief Pleas, it’s come to a head.
Chief Pleas agreed a three-month window to sort that local matter out, but then hit out at the company with a broadside that took the business back and are likely to leave future meetings between the two on rather a difficult footing.
But it appears we have that classic infrastructure ownership where neither shareholder nor business feels certain about what its ultimate purpose is, what its financial imperatives should be, how best to achieve that, and, bluntly, whether an explicit subsidy is required to make things work. After all, members appeared to agree, this is critical infrastructure for the island.
One conseiller told Chief Pleas this week that there are plenty of regional ferry operators either in chronic debt, or being heavily subsidised by regional governments.
Sark’s level of indebtedness equates to little more than £5 per journey at the moment – but it won’t want it to get any worse and the existential question needs resolving, and pretty quickly too.
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