Ferry Operator DFDS Pledges Local Jobs for Jersey Services

The Jersey route director for DFDS, Chris Parker, has stated his company’s commitment to employing local personnel for its services operating from Jersey. Mr. Parker indicated an intention to organize a recruitment event on the island early next year. He elaborated, stating: “We want to have local staff to be able to both run the operational side of things but also the commercial side of things.” He added that local staff “have the experience and knowledge of life on the island and that’s going to be very important to us.” DFDS has also revealed intentions to establish a Jersey-route headquarters and is currently negotiating a lease for office space at the harbour. Under the terms of the agreement, DFDS will operate services to Poole, Portsmouth, and St Malo, with aspirations to extend services to Guernsey in the future. Mr. Parker affirmed, “We will add in those inter-island routes.” He further noted, “I’ve already received emails and calls from islanders asking about them so I’m very well aware they’re not just nice to have, they’re essential and we will make sure that we deliver it.” He concluded by stating: “We’re very confident, we’ve got a lot of work to do, but we know what the plan is and yeah, we can’t wait to get started.” DFDS indicated that it is still developing its ferry sailing schedules for Jersey, with an expectation of providing further details on Monday. For updates, follow BBC Jersey on X and Facebook. Story ideas can be submitted to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC disclaims responsibility for the content of external websites. Information regarding its approach to external linking is available.