The Sark Viking travelled to Dielette on a promotional visit earlier this week. (0572106)
THE news that Sark Shipping is to start a freight service between the Normandy port of Dielette and Guernsey and Sark came as news to most residents here.
I heard about it a few hours after the Sark Viking’s scheduled promotional visit was due to start from someone whose father had read it in that day’s Guernsey Press. I then asked a Chief Pleas member if he’d heard about the planned service and got a blank look followed by a smile.
‘Nice to know we’re still being kept in the information loop,’ he remarked.
Of course it is no secret at all that Sark Shipping has always intended to make use of its new cargo vessel wherever possible and no secret either that a French port, along perhaps with St Helier in Jersey, featured fairly high on its shopping list.
However, the fact that deals have been struck to such an extent that a twice-weekly service (Tuesdays and Thursdays) is in the frame from 17 June onwards might well come as a surprise to most traders here.
As one put it to me, it would be interesting to know if anyone from Sark was on Tuesday’s promotional trip to Dielette and, if so, in what capacity. Equally interesting would be information on which Chief Pleas committees have been formally involved in these discussions.
What I can say, having checked, is that despite much being made by a Sark Shipping consultant about a great deal of support for the venture from Chambers of Commerce in Cherbourg and the Dielette area, the Chamber in Sark of which Sark Shipping is aware because there have been discussions between the two involving the company’s management – had no knowledge of the link other than what was published in this newspaper.
Before I get it in the neck for commenting on this, can I make it clear that I have no great issue with Sark Shipping looking for new business – indeed, as a taxpayer and thus by definition one of the company’s shareholders (although no one seems able to properly define shareholders in relation to this organisation),
I welcome any legal measure which will reduce the company’s level of indebtedness.
What I cannot come to terms with is the need to keep secret a promotional trip to a new market which will directly involve the resident population of Sark and, in particular, its traders. As someone in business here asked me: is it going to be a case that, in relation to imports to Sark, people here will only be able to buy through certain agencies? That is the sort of question this type of secrecy provokes.
Electricity prices are to go up by 10% in October to 44p a unit.Notification of the impending increase came in a letter from Sark Electricity’s David Gordon-Brown – a letter he began by saying it was one he hoped never to write.But, as he pointed out, the cost of electricity was most recently increased two years ago, when the oil that powers the company’s generators was $70 a barrel. I don’t know what the cost is today – it seems to fluctuate on a daily basis – but it seems to have been at least $100 for a while now and has even risen to close to $120. In addition, Guernsey’s inflation rate over the same two-year period has been increasing and although that does not apply directly to Sark it is probably the closest yardstick we have.
As has been Sark Electricity’s practice for some time now, the company is giving three months’ notice so the new unit price will start at the beginning of the July quarter and will appear in the accounts sent out in October.
Mr Gordon-Brown told the company’s customers that the constant price fluctuation had created a situation that no one likes but nonetheless Sark Electricity cannot stay in business for long if it does not start passing on the full cost of the increases.
‘But sudden large increases in the price of electricity are very hard for our customers,’ he wrote. ‘Therefore, over the next quarter we will review the pricing models used by other electricity companies to choose something better for the future.’
When I discussed the increase with a few other Sark residents, the consensus was that while no one likes paying more for anything, the price rise was unanimously viewed as inevitable and indeed several in the group I was with expressed surprise that it had not been implemented before.
- The email address for comment is fallesark@sark.net.
Loading ...
One Article Comment
Is the idea to now start importing French cheeses, clothing and wines direct from France. What a wonderful idea, but, has the Sark Chamber of Commerce been consulted and come on board with the idea as it seems that the new service will affect those shopkeepers on Sark struggling to sell their wares in the Avenue. Unless, of course, they are ‘in the loop’ and have been busy ordering these goods for their shops to sell and thus enhance their businesses and sales pitches. I presume also that Sark’s Traders, as shareholders in Sark shipping, have been given the opportunity to sell their wares in France when the vessel is going from the Islands to France!