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Jersey and Guernsey's governments jointly commissioned berthing trials of a large cargo ship as part of a freight "resilience" test, it has emerged.
It was announced yesterday that the 163-metre long cargo ship, the DFDS Finlandia Seaways, would be in Jersey's waters for testing today and Saturday.
Ports of Jersey said that the exercise – which has disrupted Condor's sailings this weekend – was arranged by the Government of Jersey "as part of ongoing testing of contingency plans for a number of possible risks, of which supply links form a key part".
Condor is currently the island's key freight operator for Jersey and Guernsey, but has recently come under fire for its proposed freight fees hike of around 19% from the start of 2024.
It has now emerged that the same berthing exercise will be undertaken in Guernsey too – and that the States of Guernsey have been coordinating with Jersey's government on the plan.
in a statement issued this afternoon, Ports of Guernsey said: "A vessel will be carrying out berthing trials in St Helier and St Peter Port on Saturday to test the operational parameters of the harbours.
"The vessel, the Finalandia DFDS Seaways, will be in St Helier in the morning and will then go to St Peter Port. These trials have been commissioned by the Governments of Jersey and Guernsey as part of ongoing testing of contingency plans for a number of possible risks, of which supply links naturally form a key part.
"The berthing trials have meant the rescheduling of some of Condor's services, and we are grateful to them for their cooperation and apologise to everyone who is affected by the disruption."
Condor's current operational agreement – signed with Jersey’s Harbourmaster in 2014 – is up for review. In essence, 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.
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Pictured - top: The Finlandia Seaways sailing out of Rotterdam in 2019.
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