The Government of Jersey has funded the cost of berthing trials in St. Helier Port, for one of the operators bidding to take over the contract to run ferry services, the Jersey Evening Post revealed.
However, the government, due to “commercial interests,” has not disclosed the cost for the berthing trials carried out this week by the 112 trailer unit freight-ferry Mistral, as Afloat previously reported
Incumbent operator Condor (whose new owner is Brittany Ferries), Dublin based Irish Ferries, and Danish firm DFDS are all seeking to win the contract for UK, Jersey, and Guernsey services from spring 2025. The funding for the third vessel used by DFDS for the trials has been paid and was carried out to “ensure supply chain resilience” with the time-chartered Mistral of the Ålands Islands-based Godby Shipping, which arrived in St. Helier on Tuesday.
The Jersey Economy Department has responded to a Freedom of Information (FoI), which has confirmed the costs for the previous two trials by DFDS freight ferry Finlandia Seaways and their Transmanche Ferries-branded Newhaven-Dieppe link serving Seven Sisters had been met. In addition, the Department also said that the funding would also be provided for this week’s visit by the 153.5m Mistral, which involved assistance from two tugs to berth the 1999 built freight-ferry.
The Department's response states that disclosing the precise amount of funding for these three trials would be "prejudicial" to both DFDS and Jersey's government.
The newspaper, which has more on the story, plans to appeal the FoI response.
Afloat adds that as of the start of this month, Mistral, owned by Scandinavian owner Godby Shipping AB based on the Finnish Ålands Islands in the Baltic Sea, have stated the new time charter to DFDS will, at the minimum, run until December of this year.
In 2019, Mistal was on the Irish Sea when chartered to P&O for their Dublin-Liverpool route, and in the following year, fleetmate Misida was also chartered on the Liffey-Merseyside link. The route closed almost a year ago.