Under-fire Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel has made a statement in the States about the ongoing ferry service saga.

Deputy Morel addressed the Assembly just before lunchtime on Wednesday (13 November), hours after several backbenchers had expressed their frustrations about the ongoing uncertainty over who will be operating ferries to and from Jersey after next March 2025.

Read: Resignation calls mount as Jersey ferry uncertainty continues

The Minister explained that twice last year Condor Ferries asked the government for millions of pounds.

"The first was for an 80 million euro guarantee.  The second (was) for 40 million euros, with 10 million needed urgently. 

"Condor's insolvency was ultimately protected without the need for public funds from Jersey, but we decided -with Guernsey - to protect out lifeline services by engaging contingency at a cost so far of approximately £3 million to each island."

He called that 'the prudent thing to do, to protect our supply lines'.

Using legal protections afforded by parliamentary privilege for comments politicians make during a parliamentary session, the Minister said he has repeatedly sought reassurances from Condor about its finances, and only recently got confirmation that a future contract would not be with Brittany Ferries.

" I received notice from the chair of the board of Condor Ferries on 11 September, stating that - in the event that Condor was unsuccessful in securing the future operating agreement - the firm could not guarantee that it would be able to continue operating for the remainder of the operating agreement until March 2025.

"The letter made it clear that Condor Ferries would likely require funding from the Government of Jersey of up to £36 million in order to see out its contractual obligations."

".... Condor Ferries continued to fail in the Jersey scoring (during the tender process), both on a binary yes/no point on the age of their fleet, and their financial situation."

"... Since Guernsey's announcement of Brittany Ferries as their preferred bidder, we have sought clarification as to whether a new operating agreement would be signed with Condor Ferries, or with (majority shareholder) Brittany Ferries'.

"The CEO of BF has confirmed that any agreement would be signed with CF only as the operating company, and not with BF."

"I have to regard this bid from being from CF."

Deputy Morel continued by outlining the concerns he has about future fleet investment, which he said would be 'wholly dependent' on a successful refinancing deal in three years' time.

"As Minister, I firmly believe I cannot ignore these warnings from officers.

Of the DFDS bid, he said that any common sense reading of the two bids would judge it to be better.

"However, DFDS' bid failed on a technical legal point, one which I could not personally fathom because the legal element was still to be negotiated, but which I accepted."

The Minister insisted he is acting in the island's best interests.

"We must ensure that this is right for Jersey.  We cannot be forced into a decision that is wrong for Jersey.

This new and fast process will allow us to make the right decision for Jersey's future lifeline ferry services".

Explaining the new Jersey-only tender process, he said both companies have been invited to provide details of their services.

Meeting with them will be held next week, independent evaluators will assess the bids, officers will make a preferred bidder recommendation, the Minister will seek COM support for the recommendation. and a winner will be announced 'by the end of this month'.

"All of this is with the aim of starting services at the end of March."