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The island’s largest logistics company has expressed its disappointment at having to face its fourth competition probe in less than two decades.
Ferryspeed said that a draft of the report by the JCRA had contained “serious and damaging comments” about the firm’s resilience and absence of succession planning, which were untrue.
Last week, Jersey’s competition watchdog published a ‘market study’, which concluded that competition in the freight logistics market “could be more effective”.
It found that “if there was more competition, freight logistics operators would face stronger pressure to deliver the right prices, quality and range to satisfy a diverse range of preferences”.
In releasing its findings and recommendations, the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority also published submissions to its draft report, which it had issued earlier this year.
They reveal exasperation by the island’s principal hauler, Ferryspeed, over the scope and methodology used by the JCRA and its consultants.
In a recently published letter, company CEO Stan Markland wrote at the end of March: “We were disappointed that having successfully kept the island’s businesses trading during the worst of the pandemic, we were faced with our fourth inquiry in our sector in about 17 years.”
He added: “We had hoped that the initial draft report would be a constructive document which would assist all concerned. Sadly, that is not the case.
“To my surprise, the draft report makes serious and damaging comments about, in particular, Ferryspeed’s resilience and absence of succession planning - topics which were not raised during the initial stages of the consultation when Ferryspeed met with [JCRA consultants] Fisher and representatives of the JCRA to discuss the enquiry.
“While we remain uncertain what has prompted these (non) concerns, they are assumptions which cannot be left unaddressed, especially as they have already led to a serious concern among our customer base.”
Pictured: “We were disappointed that having successfully kept the island’s businesses trading during the worst of the pandemic, we were faced with our fourth inquiry in our sector in about 17 years.”
Mr Markland went on to emphasise the “tireless” work of the Ferryspeed team over the past 40 years, which included trading through recessions and the withdrawal of various operators, including British Channel Island Ferries and Excel Logistics.
The company also submitted its own reports to the regulator, from a law firm and KPMG, which both highlighted “legal, economic and factual flaws” in the JCRA’s draft report.
Publishing its final report, the JCRA said it had reviewed all submissions since its first draft was published in February, carefully considered them, and taken full account of them, “where appropriate”.
Addressing Ferryspeed’s criticism that the JCRA market study lacked a systematic approach and failed to properly assess the view of the consumer, the authority replied: “The market study is intended to give a view of the economic fundamentals and other key elements of the market.
“It is not a formal competition investigation under Jersey Competition Law, and the authority can apply its discretion on approach and the proposed analytical framework.”
The JCRA final recommendations included the Government developing a “policy framework” to support “effective competition in the freight logistics sector”, the creation of a ‘Freight Trade Association’ so the industry can speak with a single voice, and the creation of ‘freight corridors’ so that logistics companies can operate outside of the Harbour.
Video: JCRA CEO Tim Ringsdore speaks about the local freight market.
This would mean that large containers could travel on certain roads at certain times, thus allowing new entrants to operate outside of the space-constrained port of St. Helier.
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