CONDOR has admitted it is a “challenging time” but dismissed rumours that the ferry firm had entered administration.
Just days after the company proposed a shock 18.7% rise in freight costs – and as the Jersey and Guernsey governments began berthing trials for a new freight ship run by a rival operator – the firm was forced to clarify its position as speculation mounted that it had gone into receivership.
Condor declined to provide further details about the nature and extent of its problems when approached by the JEP.
In a brief statement, John Napton, Condor’s chief executive, said: “Condor has been working with its stakeholders to overcome a temporary but challenging time. We are confident that this is very near to being resolved and will have no impact on our services now or in the long term.”
Following further questioning by this newspaper, the company’s press office said that “Condor Ferries can confirm it is not in administration” but added that Mr Napton was not available for comment.
The JEP has asked Jersey’s government if it was aware of Condor’s difficulties and had concerns over lifeline freight supplies, and whether the berthing trials for the freight ship DFDS Finlandia Seaways this weekend – which have previously been described as merely a test of the Harbour’s operational capacity – are in any way related to the ferry firm’s issues.
Last week, Condor – owned by a consortium of Columbia Threadneedle Investments and Brittany Ferries – came under fire from businesses after it announced proposals for a major rise in freight prices.
At the time, Mr Napton said the business had “no choice” but to pass on rising costs, adding that it had absorbed price increases from suppliers during the last three years.
He continued: “As with many other businesses, our financial situation was impacted during the pandemic period and during that time we continued to maintain the supply of essential food and medicines to the islands.
“We are notifying logistics clients of an increase in charges, which is obviously regrettable but having kept our charges low for the past three years, the rising costs mean we now have no choice but to pass these on.”
In a separate statement, Mr Napton appeared to indicate that Condor had been kept in the dark about this weekend’s berthing trials, which have impacted the sailing times of two of its vessels, and were only informed on Thursday.
“We have just been told by the Government of Jersey and States of Guernsey that they are to undertake berthing trials for business continuity purposes using a roll-on/roll-off vessel this Saturday.
“This unfortunately will mean some changes to Voyager’s and Islander’s sailing times in Jersey, so we are in the process of notifying passengers and freight clients.”
Friday’s announcement comes months after questions were raised over the financing of Condor’s new conventional freight and passenger ship, Islander, which entered service this autumn.
It was initially announced that the vessel had been jointly purchased by Condor and the Guernsey Investment Fund – of which Guernsey’s government is an investor.
Weeks later, on 23 and 27 March, Guernsey’s States were forced to convene its emergency committee – the Civil Contingencies Authority – to apparently keep the plan afloat. The meetings resulted in the authority instructing the island’s Policy and Resources Committee to intervene to – in the words of the then Chief Minister Peter Ferbrache – “prevent a potential emergency occurring”.
Days later, it was announced that Condor and the States of Guernsey – and not the Guernsey Investment Fund – would each be investing £3 million and that in addition the States would be loaning the operator £26 million, to be repaid at a fixed rate over ten years.
