DFDS announces Jersey-UK sailing schedule but admits no discussions yet on inter-island travel
DFDS has confirmed its sailing schedule between Jersey and the UK until the end of September.
The Danish firm signed a 20-year contract with Jersey's government to run the island's passenger and freight services from 28 March after beating current operator Condor to the tender.
However, the fast ferry route between Jersey and Poole will not start until Thursday 17 April, the day before the busy Easter Bank Holiday weekend.
It means there will only be an overnight slower service from Jersey to Portsmouth for more than three weeks, including at the start of the April school holidays, as Condor's last fast ferry to Poole runs on Sunday 23 March.
Chris Parker, Route Director for DFDS Jersey, explains: "We are bringing in a fast craft from Gibraltar but we need to do some refurbishment on it. We need to improve the shop, restaurant and seating to make it a better experience for customers so whilst it is disappointing we can't get that ship in from day one, we want to get it in as soon as possible with all of those improvements."
The company says those changes will cost £1.5 million and also include a revamp of the onboard accommodation.
It adds the Jersey-St Malo schedule should be announced next week and customers will be able to start booking sailings by Friday 31 January, when prices will also be unveiled.
Tim Crowley, Chair of the Jersey Chamber of Commerce's Visitor Economy Committee, says: "The delay is frustrating and costly to the industry, but we also understand that DFDS is working hard to deliver a robust booking platform, only having the ability to sign their contract with the Government on 31 December."
On inter-island travel, Mr Parker says discussions have not yet started between DFDS and other parties such as Brittany Ferries and Manche Iles Express about a Jersey-Guernsey route but that "we have an obligation as the ferry industry to put together a service which will meet the needs of islanders".
He adds: "We will play our part in that, we have a lot of good capacity within our existing schedules, we have two fast craft and we can certainly add departures between Jersey and Guernsey quite easily. We want to do that in partnership with the other operators so we are actually complementing each other."
DFDS also wants to utilise the existing Condor crew to ensure they stay within the ferry industry once the changeover happens.
It says around 80 people have attended a recruitment fair this week and they are hoping to fill up to 30 roles, with many of them potentially current Condor employees.
The full Jersey-UK schedule can be found here.
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