Ferry service at risk due to decline of newspapers

Increasing costs and a decreasing demand for newspapers could put a "life link" daily inter-island freight service at risk.

The Channel Chieftain V has been carrying the national newspapers, which are printed in Jersey, alongside other items to newsagents and retailers in Guernsey for the past decade.

Iris Freight said it carried about 25,000 newspapers to Guernsey each week - but that was half the amount it used to carry when it started.

David Nuth, managing director and co-owner, said without transporting the newspapers it "wouldn't be able to survive".

He said: "If the newspapers did stop, then unfortunately we probably do so as well - it's a big operation... with the fuel prices and everything these days it's expensive, so you have to budget that and cut your cloth accordingly.

"Fuel prices have gone up in the last couple of weeks and obviously because of the wars in the far east... it does have an impact on us."

Wholesale oil and gas prices have surged since the US-Israel war with Iran began on 28 February. Nuth said the company spent about £90,000-£100,000 per year on fuel.

He believed physical newspapers were "going to fade out eventually" and the company had three to five years left.

He said: "We need the papers to continue doing what we're doing - the little lifeline between each island.

"Maybe the government, maybe they want us to get a bigger boat and they want a different service and if we can help them do that then we will."

Iris Freight said the only day it did not operate was Christmas Day and it was not just newspapers the company transported.

"It's a life link for both islands, we take quite a lot of medical stuff from Jersey Hospital to Princess Elizabeth Hospital in Guernsey... during Covid, we carried quite a lot of passengers," he said.

Nuth said the boat had carried about 3,000 passengers, 520 tonnes of shellfish and more than a million bread rolls in the past decade.

He said the most interesting thing the ship had carried was "a fibreglass zebra".

"We bring back all sorts - we take dental equipment over to Guernsey, we bring tyres, car parts, you name it, we bring it back and forwards."

Drieu Dental, which fixes and maintains dental equipment across Jersey and Guernsey, said it relied on Iris Freight to ship its equipment between the islands.

It said: "If we took the equipment over in our own vehicle, as we had done previously before the changes to the ferry service, we would have to spend the week in Guernsey.

"Instead we use Iris Freight to take it , deliver it to site, and send it back when we're done."

The company added: "We would struggle to continue the Guernsey operation of our business without Iris Freight."

Nuth said over the past decade it had helped transport 10 seals to the seal sanctuary in Guernsey.

Steve Byrne, from the GSPCA, said Iris Freight had helped them "with many, many seal pups which have been very, very sick".

He said: "When you're transporting seals, ideally you want to do it by sea.

"Taking them up in planes, although can be done, it can affect the animals when they're going up into the higher altitudes.

"It's been hugely successful over the years. We are looking forward to that relationship carrying on."

Joe Pinzari from Island's Choice Bakery contributed to some of the bread rolls delivered, alongside some cakes and doughnuts , over the past decade.

He said: "As a bakery making fresh products, we want it delivered to the customer the following morning.

"We couldn't do that with any of the commercials like Ferryspeed or Condor, because by the time they've gone out with their shipping."

Pinzari said Iris Freight did "a lot of core and really important transporting".

"If that stopped, the papers stopped, I would hope that the local government would find a way of supporting Iris Freight to continue with a service."

The Jersey government has been contacted for comment.

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