- Ferry firm issue letter to customers apologising for recent troubles
- Condor Liberation has suffered a number of setbacks since its launch last month
- Company’s executive director has written to passengers to say ‘sorry’.
CONDOR has sent letters of apology to customers affected by the recent issues with the new Liberation ship.
Many customers have complained that they were not kept properly informed of timetable changes after the ship was taken out of service when it was damaged in Guernsey Harbour and then went on to suffer several technical problems.
Condor’s executive director, Russell Kew, has written to affected passengers to apologise and explain the problems that the operator encountered.
In the letter, he says: ‘The most important thing I can say is sorry – sorry to those customers who were delayed, diverted and had journeys disrupted, and sorry to their families, friends and colleagues who also experienced inconvenience and disappointment.
‘Sorry that many of you felt you didn’t get the right information at the right time, and of course, sorry to all our customers who were so looking forward to sailing on Condor Liberation, and haven’t yet had the opportunity to do so.’
He adds: ‘It is clearly taking some time for us to settle Condor Liberation into service and, looking ahead, I can’t promise that the weather will always be calm, or that there won’t be any technical issues.
‘However, I can promise that we will always work tirelessly to keep our Islands connected and supplied, and to do our very best to look after you, our valued customers.’
Meanwhile, an internal report by Condor into the accident in Guernsey is expected to be completed later this week.
The £50 million fast ferry struck a fender in St Peter Port Harbour during its second commercial crossing on Saturday 28 March. A joint investigation by Guernsey Harbours and Condor was then launched.
Keep up to date with the latest Harbour departures here and arrivals here
Guernsey Harbourmaster Chad Murray has reviewed data from the Liberation after he visited Condor’s offices in Poole and discussed the incident with management and officers who were on board at the time.
He is now awaiting the internal report from the ferry operator, but said he was pleased with how the Liberation had been docking in St Peter Port.
Since the run of problems, the Liberation, which has replaced the Vitesse and Express, has been mostly running to schedule, with no major problems.
- Condor Liberation is the companys 16th passenger vessel since it was founded in 1964
- It has a service speed of 35 knots (about 40 mph), which is faster than a great white shark, and its engines have the equivalent power of 50 formula one cars
- There are 33 staff working on the ship on each sailing
- On its maiden voyage from Cebu in the Philippines to Poole, Condor Liberation sailed more than 10,000 nautical miles across the Indian Ocean and along the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea over 22 days
- Each year Condor Ferries carries more than one million passengers and 200,000 passenger vehicles
THE JEP recently reported that Condor Ferries had come up with a novel way of delivering its on-board safety message on the Liberation – by rapping it.
To tie in with the ship’s mission statement, ‘good times’, the ferry operator said that the video, which shows actors portraying a captain and two members of staff rapping the on-board safety rules, aimed to make ‘every part of the customer’s journey as fun as the rest of their holiday’.
The video has since attracted attention across the world.
Australian news website news.com.au asked ‘Is this the most cringe-worthy safety video of all time?’, while the Mail Online pondered ‘Is this Condor Ferries video the worst safety demonstration of all time?’.
Meanwhile, there has been a mixed reaction on social media, with comments ranging from ‘very dated and cringey’ to ‘the best safety advice ever’.
The video was produced by Bournemouth-based production company Love Love Films.
