CONDOR Ferries has rejected the government’s offer to extend their current operating agreement for seven months, the Economic Development Minister revealed in the States this morning.
Deputy Kirsten Morel said that a new contract will start at the end of March 2025, and he will announce the preferred bidder “within the next month”.
The seven-month offer was extended to Brittany Ferries – the majority shareholder of Condor Ferries – last week after Guernsey’s government threw a months-long process to choose the new ferry provider for the Channel Islands into disarray by announcing their preferred bid was Brittany Ferries and not DFDS, the Danish ferry provider.
However, on Thursday afternoon, Christophe Mathieu, chief executive of Brittany Ferries and Condor, claimed that they had not received “formal notification” of the contract extension offer and were seeking “clarification” and details of “the new Jersey-only tender”.
In the States Assembly this morning, Deputy Morel told the Assembly that since Jersey ended its participation in the joint tender process and was looking at a “single-Island” option, Condor Ferries had advised that it was not accepting the invitation to extend the current contract for seven months beyond the end of March 2025, and that therefore a new contract would be put in place from that date onwards.
He said: “We intend to announce the preferred bidder [for the new contract] within the next month and the chosen operator will begin operating immediately after the current contract finishes.”
