DFDS: No plans to buy more vessels following acquisition of Condor freight boat

DFDS has no plans to buy additional vessels for its fleet after it acquired former Condor freight boat Commodore Goodwill, the Danish ferry firm has said.

Commodore Goodwill, a familiar sight to Islanders, is being rechristened Caesarea Trader and will operate the Portsmouth and St Malo freight route once it enters service, replacing MV Arrow.

DFDS last week confirmed the purchase of the boat, which was put up for sale by Jersey’s former ferry operator Condor in February. DFDS took over the running of the Island’s ferry routes at the end of March, with Guernsey opting for Condor parent company Brittany Ferries following the collapse of the inter-island tender process.

DFDS said there were no plans to buy more vessels for its fleet and that Caesarea Trader would offer “more capacity, faster transit speed and easier loading and discharge of freight”.

Commodore Goodwill had a price-tag of €14 million, according to a listing on website shipselector.com, but DFDS did not respond to a question from this newspaper asking whether it paid this sum.

Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel recently published the first set of quarterly KPIs for DFDS cancellations and delays, describing the overall performance as “positive” but highlighting the “exception” of freight, with almost a quarter of MV Arrow’s sailings to St Malo cancelled and several other sailings delayed.

The JEP asked DFDS whether the purchase of the boat was due to MV Arrow having the poorest Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the fleet.

In a statement, a DFDS spokesperson said: “Caesarea Trader is joining the Jersey fleet as it offers more capacity, faster transit speed and easier loading and discharge of freight. The MV Arrow has been an integral part of our fleet for the past three months with only a small number of delays due to the need to maximise loading time.”

The spokesperson added: “There are no plans to buy additional vessels for our Jersey fleet, and our newbuilding plans will continue as planned. We will make further announcements when there is more information to share.”