New ferry tender process to start next week

A new process to decide which company will operate Jersey's sea links for the next 15 years is to start next week, the economic development minister has confirmed.

Deputy Kirsten Morel had been under pressure to reveal why the joint tender process with Guernsey failed, after Guernsey announced its preferred operator was Brittany Ferries.

Morel told the States Assembly a bid from DFDS failed on a "technical, legal" issue, while Condor's bid failed on two mandatory scoring areas.

He said the new process would be faster and a decision would be reached by the end of the month.

He said ministers had voted informally, but by a large majority, to "abandon the previous process" and proceed with "a new rapid process" for a Jersey ferry operator.

The economic development minister said DFDS's bid was "clearly the better of the two, promising more fleet investment more quickly and a more stable corporation".

However, he said it failed on a "technical, legal point".

"One that I couldn't personally fathom because the legal element was still to be negotiated but which I accepted," he said.

Morel said it became clear the other bidder in the process was Condor, not Brittany Ferries.

Brittany Ferries is Condor's parent company.

Morel said he had "concerns about their financial situation".

"This was also because Condor Ferries continued to fail in the Jersey scoring, both on a binary yes-no point on the age of their fleet, and their financial situation," he said.

"Our analysis of Condor's business plan included growth plans that were deemed to be unlikely to deliver as they were overly optimistic given high levels of debt in the company."

Speaking after Morel's speech in the States, backbencher Deputy Philip Ozouf said: "If the contract is with Condor ferries, I would be concerned."

Morel revealed the chief minister had asked for clarification from the CEO of Brittany ferries whether any potential agreement would be with Brittany Ferries or Condor Ferries.

Morel said: "The CEO of Brittany Ferries has confirmed that any agreement would be signed by Condor Ferries only as the operating company and not with Brittany Ferries as the parent company."

However, with a new selection process starting next week, the Chief Minister, Deputy Lyndon Farnham was still unclear whether a potential new contract would be signed with Brittany Ferries or Condor.

Farnham said: "I think we need to sit down with Britanny Ferries and ask them at this stage, under the new approach whether they still intend to stick with Condor as their operating company or whether they would be prepared for us to deal directly with Britanny, those are conversations we need to have."

In a statement the chief minister said: "The government has invited Brittany Ferries and DFDS to clarify their proposals for a ferry service. We will then recommend a prefered operator."

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