The 1991-built SAN PAWL had previously operated with Malta’s Virtu Ferries and will operate a daily service linking Guernsey (St Peter Port) with Jersey (St Helier), with the possibility of an extended service to Alderney at a later date.

The new hour-long service was to have started on 29 May, but difficulties trialling the 35m x 11.3m SAN PAWL in the last week of May meant that the operator “had no choice but to delay” after it had “experienced delays to our operational readiness,” said Islands Unlimited.

SAN PAWL arrived in Guernsey as deck cargo on the heavy transport vessel EEMSLIFT HENDRIKA from Valletta towards the end of May. Before the new Guernsey operator’s interest in the vessel, SAN PAWL was to have redeployed on Virtu Ferries’ Venice to Croatia service, operated by subsidiary Venezia Lines. Virtu Ferries, meanwhile, continues to operate sister ship SAN FRANGISK.

The fast ferry SAN PAWL was built by Norway’s Brødrene Aa in 1991 and can reach a maximum speed of 50 knots.

When the Channel Islands ferry network was split up earlier this year, with DFDS securing the contract to run services between Jersey and the UK and France, and Condor Ferries (Brittany Ferries) securing the concession to run services between Guernsey and the UK and France, the daily link between Guernsey and Jersey was in danger of disappearing, as this link was maintained by Condor Ferries’ conventional ro-pax ferry.

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