Ferry links between Jersey United Kingdom and France

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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BY DEPUTY G.C.L. BAUDAINS OF ST. CLEMENT

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY, 28th FEBRUARY 2006 Question

With regard to ro/ro ferry services between Jersey, the U.K. and France, will the Minister advise –

( a ) w h e ther the current service provided by the operator(s) fully meets the Service Level Agreement or

other agreements that the States of Jersey have with them?

( b ) w h e ther he is satisfied with the current timetables published by the operator(s) and what action, if

any, he intends to take to ensure that accurate and up to date timetables are produced and made available to customers by the operator(s)?

( c ) what guarantees have been made regarding continuity of service?

( d ) what plans, if any, he has in the event that the current operator withdraws from service? Answer

1. Currently there is only a service level agreementfor the passenger/car carrying ferry service between Jersey and the UK (the northern route). Thisis now more than 8 years old in its design and only has the remainder of this year to run. A new service levelagreement will be negotiated for 2007 and2008.

F o r the period from 1st January 2009, an opportunity is presented for Jersey and Guernsey to work together,

in planning the future provision of roll on roll off ferry services between all the Islands, the UK and France.

T h ere is currently no service level agreement on the southern route but it is my intention to put an agreement

in place for the period up to the end of 2008 as soon as possible.

I n designing a new service level agreement I am fully aware of the need to address the interests of the

consumer and to aid this process a Ferries User Group' is to be established. This group will provide a focus for consumer concerns and aid the design of the consumer element of service level agreements in the future.

O  verall I can confirm that the service provided by Condor on the northern route has met the service level

agreement terms and conditions.

W  hat is important going forwards, is to recognise that any service level agreement should be seen as a

document that can accommodate the commercial realities of the market place whilst serving the Island's needs for a reliable, robust and reasonably priced service of sufficient quality and frequency.

2. The service level agreementfor the northernrouterequires the publicationofbrochures containing details of the daily schedules, and information on the fares and charges payable. This information is publishedon the company'swebsite and theoperatorhasconfirmed that a printed brochure is available forthe northern route as required bythe service levelagreement.Schedules for the southernroute have not been producedrecently. However,as explained in the above answer, there isno service levelagreement requiring the operatorto produce such schedules for that routeat present. I am advised that it isCondor'sintention to produce a printed schedule for thesouthernrouteassoonaspossible.The only reason whyonehasnotyet been printed is because of the changes to service provision arising from the uncertainty surrounding Emeraude's intentions on the southern route.
3. In December2004,as required by its service levelagreement,Condor signalled its intention to both the

Jersey and Guernsey authorities that it wished to have its ramp licence renewed beyond 2006. The company has

also agreed schedules with Jersey Harbours for this year and has expressed its intention to honour those schedules. Public statements also have been made by Condor of its commitment to continue to provide services on both the northern and southern routes.

4. As explained above,we plan to put in place service level agreements for the p e riod until the endof2008. I have no reason to believe that Condor will withdraw from the route.