Condor Ferries Lose Contract To Serve Jersey, Replaced By DFDS

[dgl]

Something I've only just found out about which is pretty big news is that Jersey have given the contract to operate ferries from Condor to DFDS.

Condor's contract to operate the ferries was coming to an end, and decided after 60 years to switch to DFDS. Interestingly, Guernsey have stayed with Condor as you would have thought it would make sense for them to use the same operator.

Operations will go over to DFDS in March this year (2025) and it appears they will have two "new" fast ferries (two Incat catamarans; one built in 1997 and one built in 2015), one freight and one ROPAX ferry.

Story from BBC news from last year:

Jersey picks DFDS to run passenger and freight ferry services

The decision puts Jersey at odds with Guernsey, which has chosen Brittany Ferries.

www.bbc.co.uk

Jersey has chosen Danish firm DFDS to provide its lifeline passenger and freight services, sparking a row in Guernsey, which chose Brittany Ferries to run its sea links.

The decision means the end of Condor Ferries' 60-year history of providing ferry services to Jersey.

A statement from the Government of Jersey said the agreement, which is still to be signed, would mean more frequent ferries to the UK and France in peak periods, faster ferries to the UK and two high-speed ferries in summer.
The announcement drew criticism in Guernsey, with the island's tourism board branding the tender process a "shambles".

The Council of Ministers had faced pressure to make a decision after Guernsey's Committee for Economic Development announced on 30 October that it would award the tender to Condor's parent company, Brittany Ferries....

 

[Tetchytyke]

Sounds about right with Jersey's politicians these days. Gone are the days of the Channel Islands working together, Jersey's lot just want to wave their willies around. They try and do the same to us as our utilities share common ownership with theirs, but we're a bit further removed from it all thankfully.

If Guernsey said it was dangerous to jump off a cliff then Jersey's politicians would throw themselves off it just to prove a point.

 

[dgl]

Yes it does seem a bit mad having one operator for Guernsey and one for Jersey though as Guernsey announced who they'd picked first it must have been a good offer from DFDS to make it all worthwhile.
You can sort of understand Jersey not wanting to stay with Condor given the issues they've had with the reliability of the service but you'd have thought they would have conversed with Guernsey and worked out a plan, it hardly like it wasn't known DFDS might be in with a shot as they had done trial runs with one of their ships.

The dream would be DFDS deciding that Weymouth or Portland are viable again as I loved by cheap day trips to the channel islands, naturally living on Portland makes going for an early sailing at Poole all that more difficult, especially as I don't drive.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

It is not clear who will operate inter-island services (if they survive) nor the St. Malo route. It would be rather silly if there was wasteful competion between the two companies.

 

[stadler]

It is not clear who will operate inter-island services (if they survive) nor the St. Malo route. It would be rather silly if there was wasteful competion between the two companies.

Brittany Ferries will operate one ferry a week in each direction between the two islands. It will be a Wednesday only service. One ferry in each direction both on Wednesday only. DFDS are running nothing between the two islands. Absolutely bonkers that Guernsey and Jersey will have just one ferry a week between them. Unless you are travelling on a Wednesday it will be easier to go via Portsmouth or Poole or St Malo and change ferries.

I read that there are talks with a company called Islands Unlimited about running an additional Guernsey to Jersey service but nothing is confirmed yet. Also this would be a foot passenger only service if it does happen. But it seems that talks are in early stages so that might not happen and it may really be just one ferry a week.

St Malo is being run by both operators. Brittany Ferries will run Guernsey to St Malo and Guernsey to Poole and Guernsey to Portsmouth services. DFDS will run Jersey to St Malo and Jersey to Poole and Jersey to Portsmouth services. The timetables are on both operators websites now.

 

[generalnerd]

Surely it would be easier to have the ferry contract be one operator and not two for two small islands. And one ferry between the two a week is crazy!! I wonder what will happen to condor ferries? Will they go belly up!!?

 

[stadler]

Surely it would be easier to have the ferry contract be one operator and not two for two small islands. And one ferry between the two a week is crazy!! I wonder what will happen to condor ferries? Will they go belly up!!?

Condor Ferries is owned by Brittany Ferries already. So they are just loosing the Jersey service to DFDS and rebranding the Guernsey service to their standard Brittany Ferries branding. So the current Condor Ferries name will dissappear.

 

[dgl]

It's all a bit mad really isn't it, from at least one return service a day between the islands to one a week. It will be interesting to see how the viability of the routes change given the essential doubling of staff and vessels required to run the routes.

 

[DelW]

I doubt if there's much demand for a vehicle ferry service between the islands, most vehicles (and drivers) would be going to or from England or France. The previous inter-island vehicle ferry was mainly an offshoot of those services, with the ship typically sailing Portsmouth/Poole - Guernsey - Jersey - St Malo (or part thereof). There's some inter-island foot passenger business, but when I used it last year it was a couple of dozen per sailing at most. I think most choose to fly.

The inter-island demand is less than one might think. Last year the boat used for the Alderney <> Guernsey service carried maximum 16 passengers IIRC (might have been fewer) and the Dornier aircraft used by Aurigny only take 19. Of course Alderney has a much smaller population than the main pair.

There have been some recriminations between politicians on Jersey and Guernsey (I've been following the saga for a few weeks now). As far as I have read, there was a joint procurement programme, but Guernsey got fed up with Jersey taking a long time to decide its preference. So Guernsey went ahead unilaterally with Condor (Brittany Ferries), meaning that Jersey had to start a new single procurement process with very little time. As a result, when they chose DFDS, they (DFDS) had to mobilise very quickly. There are (or at least were) some doubts what would be running to/from Jersey in early April, as Condor's contract ends in late March and DFDS were only expecting to start up just before Easter. This may have been resolved by now though.

 

[43055]

It all does seem quite crazy. At the moment there is 2 fast and 3 ro-pax ferries serving the both islands which will soon be 3 fast and 4 ro-pax service one or the other.

Personally I have always found Condor to be a very good company and the vessels well looked after. I haven't traveled with DFDS before so not sure what they are like but from the timetables it seems they are running slower on the fast craft and it seems that a few days at least there will be no departures from Poole or Portsmouth.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

I doubt if there's much demand for a vehicle ferry service between the islands, most vehicles (and drivers) would be going to or from England or France. The previous inter-island vehicle ferry was mainly an offshoot of those services, with the ship typically sailing Portsmouth/Poole - Guernsey - Jersey - St Malo (or part thereof). There's some inter-island foot passenger business, but when I used it last year it was a couple of dozen per sailing at most. I think most choose to fly.

There could be some demand to move vehicles between the two - for example contractors working on one island needing to move their equipment to the other. Car hire firms shifting stock from one to the other. Maybe a few car-borne tourists wanting to 'do' both islands.

 

[geoffk]

I've never been to the Channel Islands and have just spotted this. I'm thinking of a round trip, probably in June. Fly Exeter - Jersey, two nights in Jersey, ferry Jersey - Guernsey, one or two nights in Guernsey, then fly Guernsey - Exeter (or the other way round, i.e. Guernsey first). It doesn't look easy as it's hard to find an airport timetable, and I need to fit in the transport museum in Jersey, which appears to open on Tuesdays and Fridays (although there may be more opening days later in the season). I don't need a vehicle ferry of course but is that all there is?

Any advice please from Forum members who have done this kind of trip? No doubt someone will tell me if I need to start a new thread.

 

[generalnerd]

I've never been to the Channel Islands and have just spotted this. I'm thinking of a round trip, probably in June. Fly Exeter - Jersey, two nights in Jersey, ferry Jersey - Guernsey, one or two nights in Guernsey, then fly Guernsey - Exeter (or the other way round, i.e. Guernsey first). It doesn't look easy as it's hard to find an airport timetable, and I need to fit in the transport museum in Jersey, which appears to open on Tuesdays and Fridays (although there may be more opening days later in the season). I don't need a vehicle ferry of course but is that all there is?

Any advice please from Forum members who have done this kind of trip? No doubt someone will tell me if I need to start a new thread.

You can always fly I believe, there are frequent flights between guernsey and jersey frequent throughout the day if I’m not mistaken

 

[geoffk]

You can always fly I believe, there are frequent flights between guernsey and jersey frequent throughout the day if I’m not mistaken

Thanks. I'll try that.

 

[43055]

I've never been to the Channel Islands and have just spotted this. I'm thinking of a round trip, probably in June. Fly Exeter - Jersey, two nights in Jersey, ferry Jersey - Guernsey, one or two nights in Guernsey, then fly Guernsey - Exeter (or the other way round, i.e. Guernsey first). It doesn't look easy as it's hard to find an airport timetable, and I need to fit in the transport museum in Jersey, which appears to open on Tuesdays and Fridays (although there may be more opening days later in the season). I don't need a vehicle ferry of course but is that all there is?

Any advice please from Forum members who have done this kind of trip? No doubt someone will tell me if I need to start a new thread.

I have been to Jersey for a week for the last two years. Both times as a foot passenger on the ferry. It is quite easy to get around with the buses 'Liberty Bus' which run hourly or better on most routes 7 days a week from the main bus station in St Helier and can use your card to pay as well. The airport bus is every 15 mins and is right outside the terminal.

For the transport museum you can use routes 4 or 5 and the nearest stops are about 10-15 mins walk away depending on which route you choose.

As for ferries there is the weekly Brittany Ferries car ferry but in the summer there is a passenger company called Manche Lles Express which also serves the smaller islands as well as France. A new one is also starting this year called Island Unlimited running a couple of times a day between Guernsey and Jersey.

 

[geoffk]

I have been to Jersey for a week for the last two years. Both times as a foot passenger on the ferry. It is quite easy to get around with the buses 'Liberty Bus' which run hourly or better on most routes 7 days a week from the main bus station in St Helier and can use your card to pay as well. The airport bus is every 15 mins and is right outside the terminal.

For the transport museum you can use routes 4 or 5 and the nearest stops are about 10-15 mins walk away depending on which route you choose.

As for ferries there is the weekly Brittany Ferries car ferry but in the summer there is a passenger company called Manche Lles Express which also serves the smaller islands as well as France. A new one is also starting this year called Island Unlimited running a couple of times a day between Guernsey and Jersey.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Trainbike46]

Something I've only just found out about which is pretty big news is that Jersey have given the contract to operate to operate ferries from Condor to DFDS. Condors contract to operate the ferries was coming to an end and decided after 60 years to switch to DFDS. Interestingly Guernsey have stayed with Condor as you would have thought it would make sense for them to use the same operator. Operations will go over to DFDS in March this year (2025) and it appears they will have two "new" fast ferries (two Incat catamarans one built in 1997 and one built in 2015), one freight and one ROPAX ferry.

Story from BBC news from last year.

Jersey picks DFDS to run passenger and freight ferry services

The decision puts Jersey at odds with Guernsey, which has chosen Brittany Ferries.

www.bbc.co.uk

It was a whole saga, that started with Guernsey and Jersey planning to jointly issue a contract.

To me, it appears as though Jersey started with a pre-determined decision to not award to Condor or Brittany Ferries, and then did whatever was necessary to make that outcome happen.

Brittany Ferries will operate one ferry a week in each direction between the two islands. It will be a Wednesday only service. One ferry in each direction both on Wednesday only. DFDS are running nothing between the two islands. Absolutely bonkers that Guernsey and Jersey will have just one ferry a week between them. Unless you are travelling on a Wednesday it will be easier to go via Portsmouth or Poole or St Malo and change ferries.

I read that there are talks with a company called Islands Unlimited about running an additional Guernsey to Jersey service but nothing is confirmed yet. Also this would be a foot passenger only service if it does happen. But it seems that talks are in early stages so that might not happen and it may really be just one ferry a week.

St Malo is being run by both operators. Brittany Ferries will run Guernsey to St Malo and Guernsey to Poole and Guernsey to Portsmouth services. DFDS will run Jersey to St Malo and Jersey to Poole and Jersey to Portsmouth services. The timetables are on both operators websites now.

I thought Manche-iles-express was also planning a limited inter-island service?

There have been some recriminations between politicians on Jersey and Guernsey (I've been following the saga for a few weeks now). As far as I have read, there was a joint procurement programme, but Guernsey got fed up with Jersey taking a long time to decide its preference. So Guernsey went ahead unilaterally with Condor (Brittany Ferries), meaning that Jersey had to start a new single procurement process with very little time. As a result, when they chose DFDS, they (DFDS) had to mobilise very quickly. There are (or at least were) some doubts what would be running to/from Jersey in early April, as Condor's contract ends in late March and DFDS were only expecting to start up just before Easter. This may have been resolved by now though.

One key detail you missed; DFDS's bid did not meet the minimum requirements, and it appears that is why Jersey didn't want to award as part of the joint bid. They then started a new bid, and made very clear exactly why DFDS's bid was excluded last time. DFDS then won the bid in the new jersey-only procurement.

 

[geoffk]

stadler said: I read that there are talks with a company called Islands Unlimited about running an additional Guernsey to Jersey service but nothing is confirmed yet. Also this would be a foot passenger only service if it does happen. But it seems that talks are in early stages so that might not happen and it may really be just one ferry a week.

I've just booked with Islands Unlimited for 7th June, Guernsey - Jersey fast catamaran. This goes with the flights already booked.

 

[signed]

I thought Manche-iles-express was also planning a limited inter-island service?

They do a limited inter-island service but mostly as extensions to their France-bound services

https://www.manche-iles.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Brochure-ferries-to-France-inter-island-2025-1.pdf

The above being the timetable

 

[dgl]

Also of note is they've put the Condor Liberation up for sale and it recently did it's last service on the CI route. It's replacement is the Condor Voyager, previously used on the CI to St. Malo route.

 

[Railsigns]

Last year the boat used for the Alderney <> Guernsey service carried maximum 16 passengers IIRC (might have been fewer)

When I went last year, the boat carried a maximum of 12 passengers (four of whom would have to stand or sit on the open deck).

 

[pitdiver]

Is there a ferry between Guernsey and Sark?

 

[43055]

Is there a ferry between Guernsey and Sark?

Sark Shipping run the Guernsey route which is daily in the summer.

Timetables

CHOOSE YOUR TIMETABLE

www.sarkshipping.gg