09 April 2018
The tender for an Inter-island ferry service has now concluded with the States of Jersey and Guernsey securing agreement with the operator for a substantial increase in weekend day trip seats in 2018.
The Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture in Jersey, Senator Lyndon Farnham, and the Committee for Economic Development in Guernsey and the have agreed to make an underwrite available to Manches-Iles Express in order to secure almost 5,000 seats on weekend return trips between the islands this summer.
Manche-Iles Express have been asked to provide an extra 23 weekend return trips with the costs underwritten to a maximum of £95,680 split between both islands. The under-write will only be required if the average capacity on the extra sailings is below 60%. Manche-Iles Express’ enhanced 2018 timetable already offers 25,000 more day trip seats than in 2017. The extra 23 return trips take this total to just under 30,000.
Senator Farnham said “The ability to travel between the islands is important to both us, as islanders, and our visitors. As well as the obvious economic benefit to both islands it is important as it allows us to maintain our social, cultural and sporting links. I encourage the public of both Jersey and Guernsey to support this service.”
Deputy Charles Parkinson, President of the Committee for Economic Development commented “The Committee for Economic Development believes that the additional sailings could potentially be of economic benefit to Guernsey, and that is why we have continued discussions with Manche-Iles Express over the past few weeks. The additional service will provide an opportunity to understand more fully the demand for the service and any direct or indirect economic benefits from the net additional sailings from Jersey.”
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