MANY islanders will have been reassured that Commerce and Employment is consulting with Jersey on how best to license ferry operators to prevent these operations from being damaged by cherry-picking competitors.

After all, HD Ferries ended up as a summer-only provider damaging Condor Ferries’ year-round service and what the islands have now is a vital, lifeline link.

The difficulty with that approach, however, is how to deal with the consequences of giving a single carrier what amounts to a protected monopoly.

The States of Guernsey, rightly, dislikes monopolies and encourages free-market competition. It is why, through the offices of Commerce and Employment, the island has three phone operators and the Office of Utility Regulation, which is designed to provide virtual competition in areas where none exists.

So, in one breath, C&E’s minister is supportive of the bulk mailers here who want to eliminate Guernsey Post’s postal monopoly but in the other is actively recommending a hands-off approach to Condor. Is this favoured status going to be bestowed on Huelin Renouf or some other shipper that catches the department’s eye?

The trouble with government protection is that it starts to look like state control and it is difficult to see how it is in the customers’ best interest, especially since C&E appears reluctant to let the OUR loose on Condor’s books.

Islanders need to consider why a global group like Macquarie would want to invest in Condor.

The reason is that it is a mature, essential service now about to get government ring-fencing. Passengers and freight users want a year-round service, but not at any price. One has only to look at how fares came down when HD Ferries was operating to see the effect of competition.

And while islanders have a high regard for Aurigny, what does it look like when Commerce and Employment rejects competition?

Blue Islands’ proposed Bristol service is superior to Aurigny’s yet is rejected by the licensing authority, which will not even discuss its reasons for doing so.

Having established virtual competition regulation and embraced competition legislation last July, this is no time for C&E to be restricting the free market in sea transport.