Condor Ferries is to move to a purely freight service on Commodore Clipper Monday 16th March to minimise the effects of the Coronavirus outbreak and ensure continuity of the supply chain to the Channel Islands.
The change, will see the Commodore Clipper and the Commodore Goodwill operate from Portsmouth to Guernsey and Jersey with unaccompanied freight only, for the next four weeks. Passengers and their vehicles booked on Clipper over the period will be switched to high speed services from Poole.
Condor Ferries' Chief Executive Paul Luxon said: "These are unprecedented times for our industry, so we are taking prudent measures to ensure lifeline freight services to the Islands are maintained. It is crucial that all the right steps are taken and we are in direct and detailed dialogue with both the States of Guernsey and States of Jersey on this. We fully understand that the change may be inconvenient to some passengers but are working in the best interests of the Islands as a whole and feel this is the best option available to us."
The company has stepped up procedures so will adopt a sterile working environment for freight, which involves no personal contact with customers in each location and enhanced ship to shore practices. These apply in Guernsey, Jersey, Portsmouth and St Malo.
Condor is also evaluating options for providing additional freight resources as a back-up.
Passenger and freight teams are being deployed to notify all customers of the changes and will offer refunds or amend bookings as appropriate.
All information and guidance surrounding COVID-19 can be found on the States of Guernsey's website: https://www.gov.gg/coronavirus.