Daily inter-island ferry could be in service by June
A ferry has been purchased to offer daily sailings between Guernsey and Jersey this summer.
Islands Unlimited ran trips last year but these were only once a week and it used one of the ferries owned by Manche-Iles Express.
But managing director Chad Murray said the company will have its own foot passenger-only fast ferry this season and hoped services would start in June.
‘We’re going through due diligence and trying to negotiate a release date from the current owners,’ he said. The boat is currently in north-west Europe.
‘It’s only a three-day delivery time once we’ve finalised our arrangements,’ he said.
‘Since we started the project 18 months ago, we always envisaged a daily inter-island service.’
The new timetable shows daily sailings from Guernsey starting at 7am and taking 70 minutes to reach Jersey. The last sailing of the day leaves Jersey at 6.35pm most weekdays and 8.35pm at weekends.
Jersey passengers looking for a day-trip to Guernsey will be able to get here at 9.45am, returning at 5pm on most weekdays and 7pm at weekends. The Tuesday service includes mid-afternoon sailings and is designed to accommodate the two-centre holiday market, he said, enabling tour operators to offer holidays in both islands.
Mr Murray said the standard adult return fare will be about £67.
The company had held back on releasing its schedule while Guernsey and Jersey’s tender process for a UK operator went on. This ended with Guernsey appointing Brittany Ferries as its main carrier and Jersey going with DFDS. Brittany is offering one sailing to Jersey a week, but DFDS has so far not announced its inter-island plans. The only other nautical option would be the daily early morning newspaper boat offered by Iris Freight, but that vessel has very limited capacity.
While Islands Unlimited is not sailing to Alderney or Sark, Mr Murray said he was keen to look at partnerships with companies offering connecting services.
Previously it had expressed the hope that the States of Guernsey would provide some backing for its services.
‘We’re still working very closely with the States,’ said Mr Murray.
‘It’s very positive and they’re very supportive.’
He hoped that that the online booking service would go live in the coming weeks.
