We've been asking Jersey Route Director Chris Parker why the journey time to France will be almost two hours, and to address concerns that sailing times aren't conducive for daytrips to St Malo.

DFDS published its long-awaited spring and summer 2025 timetable for its southbound route yesterday (23 January) ahead of taking over from Condor Ferries as Jersey's operator at the end of March.

It shows a crossing time of two hours, and most boats arriving in Brittany around midday and departing around 5pm or 6pm.

Mr Parker confirmed to Channel 103 that the vessel - the 700-seater Tarifa Jet - won't be running at full speed and said the ferry firm has been purposely conservative while it starts out on the route:

"The Tarifa Jet has the power to run faster.  We are running her at a slightly slower speed.  That helps with the maintenance of the vessel due to the risk of technical outages because we are not running the engines as full speed.

"It gives us 'catch-up' (time) as well, if there are delays due to weather.

"As we start running the service and have more experience of running the vessels in and around Jersey, we will look to review that. It makes sense to start with something we are very confident we can deliver, and see how we can improve that in the future.

"We want to have a schedule where people can plan and know the vessels will be running to that schedule, so there is some resilience built in.

"The crossing time is slightly longer, but we will be able to maintain that crossing, and it also gives us the opportunity to be slightly greener for the environment too, which is quite important.

"We believe it is better to be slightly conservative."

The timetable typically allows French visitors 12 hours in Jersey if travelling on a Saturday.

Addressing the ferry timings, Mr Parker said:

"Inbound traffic is very important for the island, and that was made very clear through the tender process by the government.  We are looking to support the government's ambitions to bring more visitors to the island. I think that is extremely important for the strength of the economy.

"Sometimes perfect is the enemy of good, and we need to get up and running.  We will continue to adapt and refine as we go through this season, but particularly into next year and beyond."