Select a region
With the corona virus pandemic taking a hold on the Channel Islands, Condor Ferries has confirmed it won't be running any passenger services until the end of April.
That means all services between the Channel Islands, France and the UK are now suspended, except for the lifeline freight services the ferry firm is also responsible for.
Condor had already cancelled its services between 23 March and 2 April as the first few cases of covid-19 were declared in the islands, and both the States of Guernsey and Jersey started work to contain the virus to prevent it spreading further.
Pictured: Condor's CEO, Paul Luxon has announced the further suspension of passenger sailings, but freight sailings are continuing.
Travel to and from the Channel Islands was one of the first things to be stopped with Condor and other lifeline service providers working with the governments to repatriate people who had been abroad as the pandemic took a hold globally.
That original temporary suspension in sailings has now been extended and will include any scheduled high speed sailings from Poole and St Malo up to 30 April.
Paul Luxon, Condor’s CEO, said this is an unprecedented move for the ferry firm, which includes cancelling all travel plans for the Easter holiday period.
He has promised to reinstate services as soon as they can.
"As a consequence of this unprecedented global crisis, we are suspending all passenger sailings for the whole of April. We have to react to the changing circumstances and government-imposed constraints on travel, which has sadly but inevitably led us to this course of action.
"The cancellations include the Easter holidays so we regret the inconvenience this will cause.
"We remain absolutely committed to restarting services as soon as we can and connecting up our destinations. These are, of course, exceptional times and every day brings new information so our plans could change."
Pictured: Rest assured, freight services are continuing, with regular deliveries to the islands.
Mr Luxon confirmed again that freight services are continuing, with no risk to the islands' supply chains. There are regular devilries of food and other goods with Condor providing a "sterile working environment" for that to continue.
"I am pleased to report that our lifeline freight operation is working well and proof that our decision to switch to a sterile working environment to protect the supply chain was the right one," said Mr Luxon.
"Our contact teams will be extremely busy during this period and we ask for patience due to the unprecedented changes to the schedule."
Pictured top: Condor Liberation.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.