DFDS is facing renewed pressure over its service after failing to reach an agreement with Guernsey over inter-island sailings and proposing fuel-related price hikes to its freight costs.
It comes in the wake of a difficult first year for the Danish shipping firm, which started operating sailings between the Island, the UK and France in early 2025, during which it has faced persistent criticism over its schedule, costs and cancellations.
Now, senior Guernsey politician Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller has accused DFDS of offering inter-island sailings that it would have been unable to fulfill and selling spots on sailings that were never approved in the first place.
A few months ago it emerged that a proposal from DFDS to operate an inter-island service using its freight and passenger vessel Stena Vinga was turned down by Guernsey’s Economic Development Committee. It would have would have seen the ferry calling into Guernsey on Fridays with return sailings on Mondays.
DFDS announced over the bank holiday weekend that, following the committee’s decision, inter-island sailings it had scheduled for the summer period had been fully withdrawn from sale.
However, Deputy Kazantseva-Miller, who chairs Guernsey’s Economic Development Commitee, has stated that this was separate from the discussions around the proposed Stena Vinga service.
“The committee recently discovered that DFDS has been selling inter-island sailings on a high-speed ro-ro [roll-on roll-off] vessel on Mondays without a licence – a clear requirement of Guernsey’s legislation,” she said.
“To be unambiguous: the sailings DFDS claims are being ‘cancelled’ were never authorised by Guernsey in the first place.”
Deputy Kazantseva-Miller also reiterated some of the reasons why the Stena Vinga proposal had not been approved, including that a number of the departures had been scheduled to sail outside of Guernsey Ports’ operating hours and concerns that the vessel was due to be in maintenance for some of the sailings making the proposed schedule undeliverable.
Deputy Kazantseva-Miller noted that the Committee had communicated its decision to reject the proposal at the end of March, while “reiterating its commitment to securing an equitable and sustainable inter-island service”.
She added: “Progress has since stalled due to the imminent Jersey election, but we remain open to discussions with both DFDS and a future Jersey government in the coming months.”
The tension over Jersey-Guernsey connectivity exploded last year when a pan-island ferry tender collapsed and both islands governments chose separate operators.
This was compounded at the start of this year when Sarnian politicians rejected applications from Loganair to operate lifeline flights to and from the island, including Southampton and Jersey, while approving an application from the States-of-Guernsey-owned Aurigny.
Brittany Ferries – which Guernsey chose as its preferred ferry operator – has operated a weekly service to Jersey since April of last year.
The firm said that it “continues to work constructively with the States of Guernsey, Islands Unlimited and Manche Iles Express to explore opportunities for improving connections with Jersey”.
Marcus Calvani, co-chief executive of the Jersey Hospitality Association, said the industry body hoped a new government following next month’s election would present a chance to “patch up” inter-island relations.
“We should be working to protect the Channel Islands as a whole,” he said.
“We need to be understanding of the fact that they [Guernsey] are in the situation that they’re in, we’re in a different situation and we can’t be expecting everybody to always be aligned.
“But in general, if we can find always a common solution that benefits the Channel Islands, we believe – and so does the Guernsey Hospitality Association – that economically and for our islanders [we] will be in a better place if we work together.”
Deputy Moz Scott, a former Assistant Economic Development Minister, said that it was “understandable why Guernsey would look at the practical issues” in respect of DFDS’s proposal.
Noting the challenges – and costs – resulting from the islands choosing different ferry companies, Deputy Scott contended that ministers “should be looking at how there can be a negotiated transition towards a single operator”.
Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce has raised concerns over raised concerns over fuel-related freight cost adjustments being implemented by DFDS – arguing that there are “legitimate questions” around how the increases are being calculated.
The ferry operator has cited rises in fuel prices driven by “ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East”, resulting in “significant volatility in international energy markets”.
“In line with standard international maritime practice, DFDS operates a Bunker Adjustment Factor (BAF) mechanism to provide transparency around exceptional fuel cost increases,” the statement continued.
“The surcharge is reviewed monthly against the average cost of marine gas oil in Rotterdam.”
Chamber chief executive Murray Norton said: “Of particular concern to many Chamber members is that the current BAF methodology is calculated across the total fuel consumption of four vessels operating within the Jersey network, despite the fact that only two vessels are predominantly freight vessels and approximately 97% of all freight is carried on those two vessels.”
He explained that Chamber members were therefore questioning whether freight customers were, “in practice”, absorbing fuel-related operating costs associated with vessels primarily supporting the passenger market.
