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A regular visitor to the Harbour – Manche Iles' Victor Hugo catamaran – has been sold and set sail for Guadeloupe.
The 35m ferry, which can carry 236 passengers, left its home port of Granville last week bound for the French Caribbean territory, where it will sail between several of its islands.
The ship was owned by the Manche department and operated by Manche Iles Express. It had not been in use this year.
The company will now use its remaining ship, the Granville, to sail between the Cotentin and Channel Islands. It said that using just one vessel would half its operating costs.
Despite only using one vessel, Manche Iles reported that its passenger numbers were up 10% on 2023.
Earlier this month, the Government announced that it had teamed up with Guernsey and Sark to provide Manche Iles Express with €370,000 of funding next year, including a €200,000 contribution from Jersey, which previously offered £47,840 in support in 2018. €167,000 has been contributed by the States of Guernsey, and €3,000 from Sark's Chief Pleas.
The Manche department asked the Channel Islands to help fund the service to meet increased operating costs, which it said threatened the viability of the service.
Their support is conditional on the scheduled service operating “as intended” in 2025.
The departed ship was named after the celebrated French writer and politician Victor Hugo, who lived in exile in Jersey and Guernsey between 1852 and 1870.
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