STORM CIARAN: Condor sailings affected

Monday 30 October 2023

Condor has warned there are unlikely to be any fast-ferry services for a week as it prepares for Storm Ciaran by pre-emptively changing a number of sailings.

The storm is due to hit the English Channel later this week with up to 85mph winds predicted on Thursday.

The early stages of the storm will hit us on Wednesday with the winds expected to die down on Friday before a resurgence on Saturday.

Condor says it has changed its planned sailings and is warning of further likely disruption so passengers can make alternate arrangements where possible.

Sailings on Tuesday 31 October, Wednesday 1 November, and Thursday 2 November are all initially affected with the ferry company "altering sailings, encouraging and transferring passengers to travel earlier and evaluating options for maintaining the provision of food and medicines to the islands".

Pictured: Storm Ciaran is due to arrive in the English Channel from Wednesday with a second storm expected on Saturday, with up to eight metre waves and wind speeds of over 60 knots.

The Liberation and Voyager’s sailings on Tuesday 31 October from Poole and St Malo are currently due to run but to revised routings and timings, whilst Wednesday’s departures from France to Jersey and Guernsey are both cancelled.

Passengers on those services are being transferred to the Tuesday sailings.

Both the Goodwill and Clipper are scheduled to operate on Tuesday and Wednesday, with cancellations likely and significant disruption to timings from and including Thursday.

Elwyn Dop, Condor’s Operations Director said: "We have obviously experienced spells of adverse weather affecting sailings in the past, but I doubt there has been such risk of disruption which may last for over a week, and also where conditions could be outside the safe operating limits for all of our vessels.

"We are proactively contacting passengers and freight clients to notify them of the likely changes and making plans as best we can, given the current forecasts. Our importance to the food supply chain is also understood so every effort will be made to ensure we continue."

Mr Dop added: "The weather is obviously unpredictable so we monitor forecasts constantly and suspect may end up making further changes over the period."