Brittany Ferries take Jersey Minister responsible for ferry tender process to court

The Minister responsible for Jersey's ferry tender process has been taken to Jersey's Royal Court by Brittany Ferries.

Bretagne Angleterre Ireland S.A. (Brittany Ferries) is taking legal action against Sustainable Economic Development Minister, Deputy Kirsten Morel.

A clerk for the Royal Court confirmed to ITV News: "On Friday 20 December 2024 the Court heard an application by [Brittany Ferries] for leave to bring judicial review proceedings against a decision made by the Minister for Sustainable Economic Development.

"The Court granted Bretagne leave on a limited basis to challenge the Ministerial Decision of the Respondent on or about 3 December 2024 not to award a long-term operation concession contract for a passenger and freight ferry service operating routes [to Brittany Ferries] and award it to DFDS."

Deputy Morel has been in charge of both of Jersey's ferry tender processes.

What began as a joint process with Guernsey ended when the two bailiwicks failed to agree with each other, with Guernsey naming Brittany Ferries as its preferred bidder.

Deputy Morel then revealed that he was offering a seven-month contract to Condor Ferries, which they refused.

On Wednesday 13 November, Deputy Morel announced that a new ferry tender process would begin instead.

At the time, Deputy Morel used parliamentary privilege in the States Assembly to outline his concerns with Condor Ferries' financial situation - whose main shareholder is Brittany Ferries.

Deputy Morel said he had taken "great care" not to divulge commercially sensitive information, but told the States that Condor would require around £36 million to outsee contractual obligations, and that there was "no guarantee of there ever being future fleet funding" if they went with Brittany Ferries' bid.

This was later rebuked by Brittany Ferries chairman Jean-Marc Roué, who called the minister's comments "damaging".

Brittany Ferries entered Jersey's second and final ferry tender process, but lost out to DFDS Seaways.

In an internal email sent to Condor Staff this afternoon (Monday 23 December), Brittany Ferries CEO Christophe Mathieu said: "We feel very strongly that we should stand up for what is right and for what all of our staff deserve, after many years of dedicated service to the Islands.

"Last Friday (20 December), I attended the Royal Court in Jersey to challenge the government’s decision to appoint DFDS.

"During the hearing, I highlighted serious concerns regarding the fairness and legality of the process and asked the judge to conduct an investigation.

"Ultimately, we won the joint tender, but Jersey simply refused to accept the result. They then started a second process with a predictable outcome."

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