Guernsey & Jersey are searching "the best ferry-service" - tendering their ferry-routes long term

[ropax]

The governments of the both big Channel-Islands Guernsey and Jersey are preparing now actually to tender very long-term their ferry-routes new for the time from 2026. After financial problems of the actually operator CONDOR FERRIES they want now for the future "the best ferry service" for their Islands !

Jersey has 103.000 people, Guernsey 68.000 (+ ca. 2600 people on Alderney and Sark) - so these both big Islands are much bigger than f.ex. Gotland or Bornholm.
With full duty-free possibilities (these Islands are OUTSIDE from UK and also OUTSIDE from EU) and a gigantic future touristic potential these ferry-routes should be very interesting for a lot of ferry-companies. Also both tourism offices, "Visit Guernsey" and "Visit Jersey" are wishing more departures and higher Pax-capacities.
Actually these ferry-routes sadly are massive downrunned since a lot of years with very few slowly departures only for galactic super-expensive prices loosing more and more marketshares to flights or people prefer other touristic destinations with lower ferry-ticket-prices. Bot NOW all ferry-companies are invited to contact the Island-Governments for to get more infos, the detailed tender-papers etc. .

DFDS has already announced that they want to give an offer. The actually operator Condor ferries want also give an offer.
But what about the other Norwegian / Scandinavian ferry-companies ?
Any freight-logistics group similar as f.ex. DFDS without experience with ferry-traffic for tourists to/from Islands and known for high ticket-prices (usually higher ticket-prices to Klaipeda than TT-Line and higher prices at Dover than Irish Ferries and P&O, now also highest prices on the new routes to Morrocco) can not be the wished BEST solution for these both big Islands ! They would only take the financial profit without that anything would be really better for the Islanders and for tourists. Similar also Stena Line if they would offer really their Stena Vinga and Stena New-Max RoRo-freighter - maybe just only for that the competitor DFDS gets not these routes !

My favourite would be Nordic-Ferry-Infrastructure / Molslinjen-group if "the best ferry-service to big Islands" is searched - incl. own ferry-buses similar as their Kombardoexpressen. The airports in London are so far outside away + expensive travel-costs and a lot of more time to the city-center needed then that a fast Catamaran with non-stop-ferry-bus could offer similar travel-times from these Islands up to London-CityCenter - including more Comfort because of no change and with much more baggage / luggage ! But maybe also Fjord1, Norled, Boreal and others would take the chance for to operate these very attractive monopoly-routes will full duty free profits - and on top with the financial support from the Governments from Jersey and Guernsey ?

I list here only a few very positive key-facts:
A) Real many people are living nearby the ferry-ports on land: Bournemouth/Poole/Christchurch: 523.000 + 10.000s of tourists in the ca. 60 big beach-hotels there.
Southampton 255.000 and Portsmouth: 209.000. So in England maximum 30 min from the ports are ca. 1 Mio. people living = a super-big potential for duty-free ferry-day-trips to the Islands with their nice very cozy historic cities and a lot of historic sights, many designer-fashion-stores and also UKs warmest and most sunny weather, attractive coast-lines and beaches.
On the other side in France is Saint Malo with (incl. suburbs) more than 70.000 people and in 50 min is Rennes with 223.000 and in 2 hours Nantes with 333.000 people. All these 3 are attractive cities (together much more than 600.000 people) with a lot of historic sights and biggest cheapest shoppingcenters - what is missing on the Channel-Islands.
B) So shopping-tourists are coming from all sides: If the Islanders want to buy a new washingmachine, TV, car, furniture etc. - biggest cheapest shops and chains are usually only in France and England. And for the people living in England and France a duty-free-trip to the Islands with all their small luxury fashion-shops etc. is interesting.
C) A lot of Islanders are working in London, so they are weekdays there in a small apartment - and on weekends in their house in Jersey or Guerrnsey - with or without family. So especially thursday/friday and sunday/monday is a very big potential of "normal" travelers - using today mostly the flights because the ferries has much too less departures, operate too slowly and with much too high ticket-prices. So the people travel 1st with car, taxi or local-bus to the airport on the Island - and then from Gatwick or Stansted (really far outside from London !) with train or bus-connection to London-downtown. But with an own ferry-bus (similar as f.ex. Kombardoexpressen) who collects the people with a small island-circle near their front-doors and driving on the Catamaran as last vehicle just before departure (= without any time-losses) and then from the port in Poole non-stop to London-Victoria central-bus-station the door-to-door time would be ca. the same as with the flights !
And ferry+bus could be offered with much cheaper ticket-prices than the flights also = here is still a gigantic sleeping potential for the ferry-routes ! Who would book anymore a flight without any big luggage/baggage-possibilities and minimum 2 changes and 2-times waiting-times for the next connection if there would be a cheap comfortable double-deck-coach with sleeping-seats, WIFI, TV, usb-sockets, folding-tables etc. nearly as a door-to-door service ?
D) Everything is full duty-free onboard of all routes = highest extra-profit-chances for the ferry-company !
E) The governments of both Islands want support the new ferry-service financial also.

 

[ropax]

The details about in future wished routes, timetables and ferries etc. are still unknown - but this is thinkable if the ferry-service shall be better in future:
1) Jersey-Poole, with a new big "Maxi-Catamaran" (so big as possible = minimum the size as Fjord FSTR or Mols Express 5), 2 round-trips in winter, 3 in summer
2) Guernsey-Poole, with the 2010 built "Liberation" Trimaran (bought from Condor Ferries - or any other used similar Catamaran), 2 round-trips in winter, 3 in summer
3) Guernsey-Jersey-SaintMalo, with the 2000 built "Voyager" Catamaran (bought from Condor Ferries - or any other used similar Catamaran), 2 round-trips in winter, 3 round-trips in summer + additional 1 shorter-roundtrip only between France and the biggest Island Jersey in summer.
4) Jersey-Portsmouth with a new RoPax similar as Aurora Botnia (or Hammershus, with 22 knots and a few freight lanemeter more) ((size of the ports is max. circa 150m !)), normally 1 round-trip daily take all freight, otherwise a part of the freight goes with the Catamaran or 2 RoPax-round-trips if needed.
5) Guernsey-Portsmouth with the RoPax Condor Islander (bought from Condor Ferries - or any other used similar small RoPax (f.ex. charter Ben my Chree or Stena Vinga until an own new-building is there), normally 1 round-trip daily take all freight.
6) Guernsey-Jersey-SaintMalo with the Ropax Commodore Clipper (bought from Condor - or any other similar small RoPax), normally 1 round-trip daily take all freight.

So in fact from both Islands direct with a fast Catamaran to Poole - and mainly for freight from both Islands direct with a RoPax to Portsmouth.
And a combination-route offering connections between both Islands and France - with a Catamaran and a RoPax mainly for freight.
Generally a similar system as the ferry-traffic to Bornholm where is also a mix of fast Catamarans and a modern Ropax-ferry.

Thinkable own ferry-bus-routes similar as Kombardoexpressen:
A) Jersey-LondonVictoria (there is the central main-station for all long-distance-buses)
B) Guernsey-LondonVictoria
C) Jersey-SouthamptonNorth-HeathrowAirport-LondonVictoria
D) Guernsey-SouthamptonNorth-HeathrowAirport-LondonVictoria
E) Guernsey-Jersey-SaintMalo-Rennes-Nantes
F) Guernsey-Jersey-Paris
G) Jersey-PooleCity-BournemouthBeachHotels-Christchurch
H) Guernsey-PooleCity-BournemouthBeachHotels-Christchurch
I) Jersey/Guernsey-Bath-Bristol-Glouchester-Worchester-Birmingham-Wolverhampton

to A) and B): With cheap prices (19,99 for ferry+bus combiticket) much more than 1 x 90 pax double-deck-coaches are easy to fill with each ferry-departure.
to C) and D): So the passengers can choose "so fast as possible to London-downtown" and others want only to Southhampton or to an international flight f.ex. .
to G) and H): Real many people spending there 1, 2, 3 holiday-weeks in the Bournemouth-beach-region. If a cheap ferry-bus stops nearby the hotel it is very attactive to do a big day-trip to a Jersey or Guernsey then. Similar for all pensioners, housewives etc. living in this region in South England.
to I) Bath is a top tourist-city, Bristol is ca. 500.000 people, Birmingham nearby 900.000 and Wolverhampton 265.000 . So also here is a lot of sleeping potential of day-trip-people and Islanders who want maybe travel further to the North or to Wales. Sure - most people - but not all wants to London. Maybe starting with 1 bus daily only for both Islands together - and then the people in Poole are splitted to the Catamarans to Jersey or Guernsey.
If the coaches on the routes E) - I) should not be full daily maybe a daily alternating service is thinkable, f.ex. G) on tuesdays, H) on wednesdays E) on thursdays, F) fridays and sundays with the same coach - or service only in summer when most people are travelling. Use of crew-members as coach-driver = best and cheapest solution !

Airlines offers daily Jersey-London CIRCA 2000 seats and CIRCA 1000 seats Guernsey-London (partly in loud old slowly (1:20 instead of 55 min) Turboprop-flights !) in each direction - mostly to Gatwick or Stanstead far outside from London city-center.

 

[ropax]

Sadly not the best news here in meantime until today... :
- The CEO from Brittany-ferries is now interims-CEO of Condor-ferries also.
- In fact Condor-ferries is an "overtaking-candidate" with ca. 25% of the shares actually hold by Brittany Ferries.
- It is expected that they will give "together" as "Brittany-Condor" an offer for further operation in the soon coming tender-process of the ferry-routes to the Channel-Islands.
- But so far is known both companies has not the money to buy any new ferries for these routes.
Therefore happened also "port-tests" of the 33-years old freight-orientated RoPax-ferry BARFLEUR in the Islands.

"Random" in the same hour when DFDS has made a meeting with a few "ferry-interested people" of the Islands - but not with the both Governments of Guernsey and Jersey and not with key-politicians.
DFDS has made earlier port-tests with a 100% RoRo-freighter also and it is expected that they will give an offer for the operation of the routes with a new - but much too small - Catamaran from Incat and maybe also older Catamarans from the former FRS-Iberia routes in combination with other old poor smaller DFDS freighters as f.ex. the 34-years old Patria Seaways.

So my opinion:
With these both ferry-companies - only expanding the Ferry-Duopoly in Western Channel - for the ca. 180.000 people living on these really attractive Islands and all (much more possible) car- , motor-home- , motorbike- and coach-buses tourists nothing will really be better in future.
Both these ferry-companies are generally known for highest ticket-prices, highest onboard-prices and operation-systems without really big Pax-capacities - which would be the first requirement for to offer in future lower ticket-prices.
And also with the planned ships - can not see what would be better with a ca. 70% smaller (!) Catamaran than today - and maybe also more slowly because electric... . And with the "normal" ferries - beside oldest poorest (freight-)ships nothing new or better to see anywhere.

Apparently DFDS and Brittany-Condor haven`t spoken with the both Governments and key politicians yet about what they really want ?
Maybe they are thinking there is a big chance to get easy highest profits in future with highest ticket-prices for the few "better die than fly" people ? And to operate with oldest poorest - long time off written - ships ?

These Islands are RICH - not poor. Their beautiful attractive cities are overcrowded with small fashion-stores and jewelers and there are "1000s" of historic sites, castles and historic buildings to visit. They want now a much better ferry-service in future than in the past - and - if possible - the best ferry-service generally - or in other words - same standard or better than to the much much smaller Island of Bornholm f.ex. . They want a ferry-service-standard on a similar high level as their Islands are. They want MORE tourists arriving by car, motor-home, tourist-coaches etc. - and that the Islanders also can travel much more often, more easy and faster and cheaper to England and France than today - when is a night on the ferry or a hotel is needed for some hours of big shopping in London f.ex. .

These ferry-routes are perfect for shopping in both directions: The Islanders need to travel always to England or France for all BIG shopping (TV-media, furniture, winter-sports-equipment, bicycles etc.) . All biggest cheapest super-stores (IKEA, Auchan, Primark etc.) are not there on the Islands. And in other direction for French and English people and all the tourists on their both channel-coasts it is very attractive to do a day-trip to the Islands and shopping there Tax-free in the 1000 fashion-stores, jewelries, handcraft-stores etc. . So that the "normal" people has again an alternative cheap frequent 365-days travel-option to the flights - what is today not the case with poorest slowly ferry-timetables, no ferry-buses and much too high ticket-prices.

Therefore they have still not started yet the tendering of the routes which was originally planned for april.
And the Government of Jersey and the Port of Jersey are with 2 people each now next week on the Shippax ferry-conference also, listen to the lesson from Incat about the new big electric Catamaran-ferry China Zorilla (with 2.nd car-deck instead of the duty-free-deck it would have capacity for 450 cars which would be a better solution) and hoping to coming in contacts to NEW other ferry-companies also. Port of Jersey want to learn how it works with Auto-mooring in combination with high and low tide-differences (my tipp: Copy the system from Fred Olsen Express). They want a ferry-company with big PAX-experience also - and not a freight-logistics-company.

So PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE -
NFI-Torghatten-Molslinjen-group, Norled, Fjord1, Boreal - and all other ferry-companies -
take the really big chance NOW to expand the business and route-network massive with ferry-routes to these both big very attractive Islands between England and France with full Tax-free extra-profits on all ferry-routes, annually growing population and super-big future tourist-potential from both sides of the Channel.
- Contact and speak with both Governments separately, Guernsey and Jersey - they has each an own Government which decide each self.
Nothing will be decided in London - both Islands are independently (in all points around traffic).
They wish first to speak with some ferry-companies - and then to send out the tender-papers to the interested ferry-companies.
- There are 2 separate operation-contracts to sign (if the tender-process would be won), 1 contract with each Island.
- But both Islands want to find 1 new ferry-company only for all ferry-routes to both Islands together.
- It can be a complete new ferry-company-name especially new started and only designed for the Channel-Islands-routes.
- There will be any kind of financial support possible, all routes will be Monopoly-routes and with full Tax-free-rules (both Islands are outside of UK and outside of EU) - what means a lot of extra-profit with each beer sold in the board-shop or in the bar and restaurant onboard.
- Time for delivery of new-buildings up to 2025/2026 is too short, so for the first 2, 3, 4 years any temporary fleet-solution is needed, f.ex. with chartered / bought other used ferries (f.ex. Stena Vinga or Ben my Chree or Volcan de Taburiente - any ferries should be max. ca. 150m because of the small ports) or bought ferries from the actually Condor-fleet. If they not win the tender then they "must" sell all ferries normally.
- Offer an attractive complete traffic-system with CIRCA 3 Catamarans and 2 RoPax-ferries and own ferry-buses (onboard of the Catamarans) minimum to London similar as the ferry-routes from Ystad and Köge (incl. ferry-bus from Copenhagen) to Bornholm (or similar as what i have sketched in this Thread here) and i am sure that there are super-big chances then to win the tender-process for a very long term period.
Much more profit easy possible than with small domestic routes in Norwegian Fjords and hardest competition by other Norwegian companies.
- New big Catamarans are much cheaper than new "normal" ferries - and the 3 yards Incat, Austal and Armon offer also options for long-term leasing of ferries.

But if only DFDS and Brittany-Condor will give an offer - then i can really not see how anything around ferry-traffic to Guernsey and Jersey will be better then in the future than in the past. Not for the Islanders - and not for the tourists. Then it will stay a poor basic minimum lifeline-service with small capacities, less departures, slowly speed and highest ticket-prices - to use mainly only for well situated "better die than fly" people.