The announcement follows meetings held this week with the Sous Préfet [administrative authority] of St Malo, the stevedores and their union representatives. However, Condor’s weekly freight-only crossing remains suspended.
Further discussions, aimed at producing a permanent solution, are also understood to be taking place.
Elwyn Dop, Condor’s commercial director, said: ‘We are grateful that the St Malo authorities have brokered a temporary arrangement with the dockers that should see us sail Condor Rapide this weekend as planned.
‘It is also understood that discussions are under way which could result in a permanent solution being found. Obviously, any ongoing disruption is regrettable and totally unacceptable so we look forward to being able to resume all sailings in due course.’
On 3 July, Jersey’s borders officially reopened to non-essential travellers – with the first commercial flights since lockdown touching down.
However, although it was able to restart its UK passenger services, Condor was forced to delay the resumption of its French operations for around two weeks as St Malo stevedores threatened to stop its vessels from docking.
Problems first arose in St Malo last month when SMM – a ship-handling company owned by Morvan Fils, which is part of the Condor group, and four other marine businesses – went into liquidation with the loss of 32 jobs.
The stevedores launched a protest, calling for all workers to be reinstated. However, a new port-handling company is reported to so far have only recruited seven people.
Since crossing restarted, it appeared that problems had subsided. However, this week tensions flared up again, with angry dockers forcing a Brittany Ferries ship – with 549 passengers on-board – to divert to Cherbourg. The next day protesters also blockaded the vehicle entrance to the ferry terminal with burning street furniture.
