MORE UK ferry passengers travelled to Guernsey than Jersey between April and October, according to date produced by an independent travel research company.
It is the first time that Guernsey’s market share of ferry passengers from the UK to the Channel Islands has exceeded 50%.
The chief executive of Brittany Ferries, Christophe Mathieu, has attributed the figures to a “fantastic first summer” and “consistent growth” for the ferry operator’s services.
His comments come just a few weeks after outgoing DFDS chief executive Torben Carlsen said that the start-up of the Danish shipping firm’s Jersey operations had “proven harder than expected”, due to “a very short timeline” caused by changes to the tender process.
Guernsey’s decision to appoint Brittany Ferries as its preferred ferry operator towards the end of last year marked the collapse of what had initially been a joint procurement process between the two islands.
DFDS won the subsequent Jersey-only tender and has been providing services to the UK and France since the end of March, having signed a 20-year contract.
Data produced by independent travel research company IRN Ferry showed that 112,255 passengers travelled between Portsmouth and Poole to Guernsey from April to October this year, compared with 92,023 to Jersey from the same two ports.
This represents a 55% share for Guernsey of the total Channel Islands’ market by sea from the UK.
Mr Mathieu said: “We have seen a fantastic first summer and a consistent growth over the full seven months, which is all the more remarkable when you consider the respective populations of both islands.
“For the Bailiwick of Guernsey to have welcomed well over half of all UK visitors by sea to the Channel Islands, is a credit to everyone involved.”
Mr Mathieu added: ““After a successful first season, we are excited to look ahead and see how we can make our services even better.
“One of our next initiatives is to bring the islands of the Bailiwick closer together by teaming up with the local ferry operators to offer through-services from the UK
and France.”
