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A money raising package will target passenger charges, aircraft landing fees, freight, oil imports and mooring bills.
Guernsey Ports is consulting on airport and harbour tariff proposals for 2025, having already faced down criticism for its hikes imposed this year which will halve its annual operating deficit to £1.4m before any spending on infrastructure.
The proposals include a new charge which will apply to all passengesr to help pay for special assistance services.
There are big commitments to come, between 2025 and 2029 it has earmarked £40m. to be spent on routine capital projects at the ports.
“Included in 2025’s approved budget are around £600,000 of cost savings, primarily at Guernsey Airport,” said Guernsey Ports Managing Director Colin Le Ray.
“In addition to this, we are working on numerous commercial opportunities, some of which are deliverable next year. These have the potential to realise around £500,000 of additional non-aeronautical and non-maritime related income streams in 2025.
“Despite these important changes, there remains an underlying requirement for Guernsey Ports to apply above-RPI increases to a number of its tariffs in 2025 and 2026. Focussing on user charges means the greatest contribution will be from those islanders who benefit most from the facilities we provide.”
The proposed revenue raising package for 2025 is spread across airport and harbour passenger charges, aircraft landing fees, cargo and bulk freight charges, hydrocarbon imports, and marina fees.
Guernsey Ports are working with its ground handling service provider to introduce more formalised arrangements for passengers requiring assisted travel at the airport.
This includes a recent investment of more than £150,000 for two new Aviramps which assist with boarding aircraft.
“Besides improving facilities and equipment, the service charge will enable us to formalise the resource requirements and enhance external oversight, to ensure standards are maintained,” said Mr Le Ray.
“Many other UK and regional airports levy a small charge on all passenger fares for this purpose, and we believe more formalised arrangements for passengers requiring assisted travel is an important step for Guernsey to take. It will improve the customer experience for thousands of passengers every year, and many more islanders than that during their lifetime.”
At the harbours, it is proposed that local mooring holders’ fees will increase by RPI (5.3%) + 3%.
This is less than the provisional estimates for the second year of the Financial Transformation Plan, published by Guernsey Ports last year, and reflects customer feedback.
Guernsey Ports says it continues to see strong demand for berths, particularly larger vessels. A programme of marina optimisation is ongoing to increase revenue through the creation of new berths.
It is also proposed that visitor marina fee increases will range between 2.5% and 12% according to the size of the vessel.
“We have written to all our stakeholders and are inviting them to comment on our proposals over the next four weeks,” said Mr Le Ray.
“In the case of mooring holders, we are also inviting feedback on our proposals to apply a flat percentage across the board, or whether they would prefer the increases to be weighted towards larger vessels.
“We have identified much-needed improvements in leisure marine facilities over the next five years.
“We have some significant capital investment coming up, such as the replacement of the marina gates, which impound water within the QEII Marina. The scale of that investment exceeds any amount we could or would reasonably seek to recover from our boat owners through mooring fees, and it is a matter we will be taking to the States in the coming months.”
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