The chief executive of Brittany Ferries has attributed figures from an independent travel research company – showing that Guernsey’s market share of ferry passengers from the UK to the Channel Islands has exceed 50% for the first time – to “a fantastic first summer” and “consistent growth” for the ferry firm’s services.
Christophe Mathieu also said that one of Brittany Ferries’ next initiatives would be “to bring the islands of the Bailiwick closer together” by teaming up with the local ferry operators to offer through-services from the UK and France.
He made the comments in the wake of data produced by IRN Ferry, which stated that 112,255 passengers travelled between Portsmouth and Poole to Guernsey from April to
October this year, compared with 92,023 to Jersey from the same two ports.
This represents a 55% share for Guernsey of the total Channel Islands’ market by sea from the UK, with figures for October seeing a further rise to 57% against 43% for Jersey.
Mr Mathieu said: ““We have seen a fantastic first summer and a consistent growth over the full seven months, which is all the more remarkable when you consider the respective populations of both islands.”
He continued: “For the Bailiwick of Guernsey to have welcomed well over half of all UK visitors by sea to the Channel Islands is a credit to everyone involved.”
Mr Mathieu added: ““After a successful first season, we are excited to look ahead and see how we can make our services even better.
“One of our next initiatives is to bring the islands of the Bailiwick closer together by teaming up with the local ferry operators to offer through-services from the UK
and France.”
Guernsey’s decision to appoint Brittany Ferries as its preferred ferry operator towards the end of last year marked the collapse of what had initially been a joint procurement process with Jersey.
DFDS won the subsequent Jersey-only tender and has been providing services to the UK and France since the end of March, having signed a 20-year contract.
But the quality of the service that the Danish ferry operator has since delivered has faced criticism, with Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham stating in August that it “falls short of what was promised” and calling for “immediate clarity and improved delivery”.
Outgoing DFDS chief executive Torben Carlsen recently said that “the start-up of Jersey [operations] has proven harder than expected”, citing “a very short timeline” as a result of the changes to the tender process.
“We are working with Jersey to see how we can agree different changes to both secure a good service to the islanders and visitors, but also [so we] can ensure that we, going forward, can deliver the results that were implied in the agreements we made with Jersey,” he added.
Express has asked Visit Jersey and DFDS for comment.