Condor blamed for food shortage

Mark Cox, chief operating officer at the Co-op, has said that retailers have been left frustrated as cancellations of the MV Arrow, brought in to replace the Commodore Clipper while it undergoes maintenance work, has meant that stores have been struggling with limited stock.

And he said that while he accepted adverse weather would impact on sailings, Condor should not have removed the Clipper from service during the winter months, when weather was more likely to be an issue.

He said that the temporary replacement boat was less capable of fulfilling the sailings.

However, Condor has rejected the claims, saying that that the sailing disruption is ‘beyond our control’ and that even if the Clipper had been available it would not have been able to sail because of the recent strong winds.

The Clipper is currently in dry dock while it undergoes work to ensure that it complies with EU environmental regulations.

Mr Cox said: ‘We would expect there to be some disruption due to the weather.

‘My frustration is that at this busy time of year Condor have taken a vessel out and replaced it with the Arrow, which doesn’t have the same capability.

‘I fully understand that there is no ideal time for taking a vessel out of service but we would think that the busy winter months would not be the time to do so.’

Mr Cox added that the decision to close the Co-op’s Channel Island warehouses earlier this year was not a factor, saying that fresh food was never stored in Jersey.

He said: ‘It is not an issue with canned goods – it is fresh foods like meats, fruit and dairy.

‘Retailers are relying on bringing in fresh food to the Island on a daily basis.

‘There are a lot of people relying on those vessels and we accept that sometimes there will be delays, but when it comes down to poor planning, then that is frustrating to us.’

Steve Champion-Smith, executive director of freight for Condor, said that the company had worked with retailers to minimise the impact of the delayed sailings.

He said: ‘This weekend’s disruption has been caused by severe weather and is therefore beyond our control.

‘As the forecast for the next few days deteriorated, we immediately advised our customers of the situation and worked with them to plan freight deliveries in advance to ensure any disruption to supplies is minimised.

‘This resulted in us putting on an extra sailing of Commodore Goodwill on Sunday.

‘There is never a good time to take vessels out of service for maintenance but it has to be done periodically in order to keep our fleet in the best possible condition.

‘If a ship is out of service in the summer, then it has an effect on passengers, and if we take a ship out of service in the winter, then other services are likely to be weather-affected.

‘We therefore try to ensure maintenance takes place in the autumn or spring months, so any knock-effect is minimised.’

He added: ‘There are very few ships available worldwide which are able to fit into our island ports and we have worked hard to make sure we have charter access to one of them, MV Arrow, which ensures that we always have two freight ships in operation.

‘As an important customer we have worked with the Co-op to minimise any effect of the severe weather, which is beyond our control.

‘It is unfortunate that Mr Cox feels otherwise.’

The Clipper is due to return to service in mid-December.

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