DFDS was the "strongest strategic partner"

Thursday 05 December 2024

Jersey has confirmed the reasons why it went with DFDS over Brittany Ferries for its future ferry services - allaying some of the fears which Guernsey's decision makers appeared to have over the Danish shipping company's offering.

It was announced earlier this week that Jersey had gone with DFDS - while Guernsey signed its contract with Brittany Ferries yesterday, after announcing in October that it was our preferred bidder.

Guernsey's Economic Development President said at the time that the benefits of the Brittany Ferries tender include:

• • A service operated with the backing of one of Europe’s largest ferry operators. The bid is submitted by Brittany Ferries, with a turnover of approximately €450m in 2023, operating nine vessels with 2,500 employees, now the majority shareholder in Condor, which itself has served the Channel Islands for more than 50 years.
• • Assurance of fleet – Brittany Ferries has provided assurance that it will be able to deploy the current Condor fleet as the majority shareholder of that business.
• * There will be a smooth and seamless transition to the new arrangements, which will ensure that the minimum service requirements continue to be met and the schedules for 2025 can be published shortly;
• • A different deployment of the current fleet – the fleet will be used differently to ensure that services have greater resilience, and optimise connections between Guernsey, the UK and St Malo for local residents, visitors to the islands and freight users. 
• * The Committee remains committed to maintaining inter-island travel, and as a priority will work with all interested parties to do all it can to retain this link for both islands. Economic Development President Neil Inder spoke yesterday with his counterpart and has been assured that if there is a divergence between the islands on the contract, those negotiations will be at the forefront of their ongoing relationship.
• • The fact that the business already has a large scale, very strong foothold in France, Spain and the UK and well-regarded standards and ethos of the Brittany brand, which includes a strong customer service focus and back up to deal with contingencies.

Deputy Neil Inder later confirmed that DFDS's bid for the ferry contract had received a 'legal fail' in both island's scoring processes during the joint tender process.

"This meant that, based on the islands’ jointly agreed Invitation to Tender document, the DFDS bid was disqualified from the process and could not be appointed as preferred bidder," he said. "Brittany Ferries’ bid passed all of the requirements in the tender and did not receive a disqualifying fail."

Pictured: DFDS brought the 'Seven Sisters' into Guernsey for a berthing trial this summer.

Giving further details on the situation, during a States meeting last month, Deputy Inder said that DFDS had wanted the unilateral right to change the schedules and fares, which Guernsey had said no to.

Meanwhile, Jersey had concerns over Condor Ferries finances and were reluctant to sign with them.

Reopening the tender process as a solely Jersey contract, both DFDS and Brittany Ferries submitted bids. 

DFDS came out on top this time round, with Jersey's Government saying that, for their island's passengers, the deal is expected to mean:

• Greater frequency of ferries to the UK and France in peak periods
• Faster ferries to the UK 
• Three new ferries within the next six years
• Two dedicated high speed ferries for the summer

More details were shared in a press conference yesterday morning, with Jersey's Economic Development Minister, Deputy Kirsten Morel saying that there had been "a clear difference" between the bids of competitors DFDS and Brittany Ferries.

Jersey's Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham also confirmed that DFDS's offering included an initial service to Portsmouth and St Malo, served by a "dedicated fleet" of four vessels.

Freight users will pay via flat-rate cards, rather than volume-based pricing, the Chief Minister added, which he said would "open the market for competition".

Video: Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham and Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel speaking at a press conference this morning.

Filip Hermann, DFDS's Business Unit Channel and Baltics vice-president who attended the meeting virtually, added: "We will work as hard as we can.

"We have dropped every single other priority in DFDS to get this ready," he said.  "Of course, we will everything in our power to get it up and running as soon as we can."

Guernsey's 2025 services also include routes to Portsmouth and St Malo as well as to Poole. 

The high speed Condor Voyager will operate a St Malo-Guernsey-Poole-Guernsey-St Malo rotation daily in the high season and three times a week off-peak. Condor Islander will run a freight and passenger service six days a week from Portsmouth.

The Liberation and freight vessel the Goodwill no longer feature on Guernsey routes. Condor Clipper will operate back-up services when needed.

There will only be a once a week service between Guernsey and Jersey under Condor's proposed schedules. 

The ferry firm had said it would seek to increase that if it had won the Jersey contract too. It's not yet known what inter-island services DFDS may offer.

Pictured (l-r): Deputy Kirsten Morel and Deputy Neil Inder.

READ MORE...

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DFDS's bid "legally failed"

Jersey did know...

ED "confident" in Guernsey-only ferry service

Condor: Did other ferry bidders plan to use our boats?

Jersey's government received "additional legal advice"

Ferry contract: Why Guernsey has picked Brittany Ferries