- Huelin Dispatch sailed through for the final time on November 19th.
- Channel Seaways becomes the only company providing cargo services to the Island.
- The change to result in increased work shifts and staffing.
- Harbour stevedores would be handling cargo at the Elizabeth Terminal berth now.
CHANNEL Island Lines’ container ship Huelin Dispatch sailed through the Harbour’s pierheads for the final time, reported an article in the Jersey Evening Post.
The company, which chartered the vessel from a third-party supplier, has now moved to ship its goods by a trailer on Condor’s vessels. Guernsey business Channel Seaways is now the only company providing load-on, load-off cargo services to the Island, sailing to Jersey twice a week.
How will this affect the company?
However, Channel Island Lines’ chief executive, Andy Cook, has said that the change will allow the company to provide a faster and more frequent operation.
Work hours
‘Jersey still has a lo-lo service. We have been coming in three days a week, but with our new model we will be coming in six days a week, twice a day, and that will increase our service levels,’ he said.
‘For us, to remain competitive we have to meet our customer’s expectations. In the media, for example, there is talk about Amazon next-day delivery and we cannot tell our customers we will get something to them in a week’s time.’
‘A daily service is what we need to do. We have spent a lot of time talking to Condor about their spare capacity and how they can manage our service and we are comfortable (since) there is sufficient capacity.’
Staffing & Cargo Loading
Mr. Cook added that the change had not led to any redundancies and had actually led to an additional three staff being taken on within the company.
He also said that the Harbour stevedores would be handling the company’s cargo at the Elizabeth Terminal roll-on, roll-off berth instead of the New North Quay.
And he moved to quash speculation that the move would make the Island’s freight supplies less secure.
‘In the simplest terms, the bigger the boat, the more seaworthy it is. I do not know the exact tonnage but Condor’s vessels are probably about two or three times the size of the type of lo-lo vessel that can operate here,’ he said.
‘Generally, when the weather is too bad for the Goodwill or Clipper to run, the lo-lo boats cannot go either.’
The Huelin Dispatch took place on November 19th, making its way down the Seine river, on its way to Rouen in Normandy, for a French shipping company.
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Source: Jersey Evening Post
