A second car ferry service is to be started between the Channel Islands and France, it has been announced. HD Ferries says it is to have at least three sailings a week on its services between Jersey, Guernsey and St Malo from mid-March.
Island authorities have been attempting to encourage other companies to start a rival service to Condor since Emeraude pulled out last year.
HD's catamaran will take up to 100 cars, 400 passengers and freight.
Governments' approval
Emeraude Ferries mothballed its route between Jersey and St Malo in France last June.
Emeraude said it had lost 15 million euros since 2003 when Jersey's government allowed Condor Ferries to compete on some routes.
In a statement, HD Ferries said it was one of a number of companies approached by the islands' authorities and had spent nine months investigating whether it was worth doing.
It is part of the Two M Group and has been involved in the ferry business in the UK for seven years.
Its first sailings will be on 15 March, but that is subject to approval from all of the government departments involved.
The company said it would be operating a daily service between March and September and three sailings a week in the winter.
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