“We are confident that this is very near to being resolved and will have no impact on our services now or in the long term.”

Condor contacted the Government in August 2020, during the pandemic, to advise that it was no longer meeting the profitability levels set out in its operating agreement and suggested measures to reverse the situation.

The then-CEO of the Government of Jersey, Paul Martin, warned those measures would have had “a material impact” on freight costs and ferry services to Jersey. Both Jersey and Guernsey then agreed to explore a new operating agreement with “transitionary support".

This year, Guernsey's leaders made a decision to loan Condor £26m and jointly purchase a new boat to "prevent a potential emergency occurring".

Confirmation of Condor's current "challenging" time came just hours after it emerged that both Guernsey and Jersey had jointly commissioned berthing trials of a large cargo ship this weekend. They said that this was part of a freight "resilience" test. 

Pictured: Condor's revenue was down 96% in 2020 and it lost £50m in revenue and cash burn.

The trial of the DFDS Finlandia Seaways has caused disruption to Condor's sailing schedule.

The trials come as Jersey's freight resilience was thrust into the spotlight following disruption due to the pandemic and bad weather, and concerns over Condor's recent decision to hike prices by around 19% from the start of the new year, in what is expected to be a major blow for local retailers and consumers. Condor said it had "no choice" due to rising operational and mooring costs.

Condor's current operating agreement is up for review. Signed with Jersey’s Harbourmaster in 2014, it gave the company an exclusive ramp licence to run Roll-on, Roll-off services in return for a guaranteed level of service, including types of vessels, pricing and timetables. 

The decade-long agreement does not prohibit other operators entering the market, but they would have to provide the same level of service as that set out in its 80 pages – setting a high barrier to overcome.

The current 10-year deal between the Government and Condor is in its ‘winding down’ phase, with a new agreement on such matters as capacity and frequency due to be signed before July 2025.

Current Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel previously said he would like to see more daytrips to France form part of any new agreement.