Ferry contract: Why Guernsey has picked Britanny Ferries

Thursday 31 October 2024

Guernsey has pointed to the size of Britanny Ferries and the ease of deploying Condor’s fleet as two of the reasons why it has been picked as the preferred bidder.

Economic Development confirmed its choice yesterday evening after a 10 month joint tender exercise with Jersey failed to find mutual agreement on the way forward at this stage.

Jersey is set for crunch talks today with the two bidders as DFDS remains in play there.

Guernsey’s Economic Development committee said 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.