Competitor would be unhelpful, say Condor

Tuesday 24th January 2006, 12:00AM GMT.

CONDOR Ferries have warned it would be ‘unhelpful’ in difficult market conditions if they were to find themselves in a fight to stay as sole operator on the sea routes to the UK.

The ferry firm will be given an indication before the end of March as to whether they will have to fight off competition to continue as sole operator on the sea routes when their licence expires at the end of this year.

As part of the deal with the States that gave the ferry firm an exclusive licence, Economic Development Minister Philip Ozouf will have to write to Condor to give an idea of their thinking for when the route licence expires.

But Condor managing director Rob Provan said that with many ferry operators floundering and fighting the effects of soaring fuel prices, any move to introduce competition on a route with 200,000 passengers would be ‘unhelpful’.

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