A NEW inter-island foot passenger ferry is to begin running daily services between Jersey and Guernsey this summer.
Islands Unlimited has announced its intended schedule for 2025, beginning in June. The company has confirmed that a standard adult return fare will be priced at around £67.
Islands Unlimited managing director Chad Murray, who is Guernsey’s former Harbourmaster, previously expressed frustration over slow progress made in getting the service off the ground, despite having engaged with both the Jersey and Guernsey governments over many months.
However, yesterday he said he was “delighted to be able to share our intended schedule for this coming summer”.
“This is still subject to some final discussions with Ports of Jersey, but we are excited that we will be offering a daily inter-island foot passenger service this summer,” he said.
According to Mr Murray, the ferry schedule has been shaped with the help of the whole community.
“We want to meet the needs of Islanders, as well as visitors,” Mr Murray explained. “Following stakeholder engagement, this offers the best fit for the communities, commuters, local business, sport and events, as well as offering great day-trips for visitors to support tourism.”
Before the service can officially launch, Islands Unlimited must finalise the ship’s certification, compliance, and release date from its current owners.
“We still have a few hoops to jump through,” said Mr Murray. “We hope to be able to firm things up in the coming weeks and set our online booking system live.”
While Islands Unlimited initially considered wider routes, the company said it has had to scale back its services for 2025, choosing to focus solely on Jersey and Guernsey.
However, Mr Murray confirmed they were keen to explore partnerships to help travellers connect to the smaller Channel Islands of Alderney and Sark in the future.
Previously, the inter-island route was operated by Condor.
Following the recent ferry tender saga, Jersey and Guernsey have separate ferry providers, DFDS and Condor parent Brittany Ferries respectively, who will have to work together on their own inter-island plans.
Jean-Marc Roué, president of Brittany Ferries’ governance board, said in a recent interview that his company would work with Manche Iles Express and DFDS on an inter-island service “when things will have calmed down”.
This would be split “in an equitable fashion”, he said.
