Members may be aware that the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority (JCRA) has now published its decision on the PoJ Pricing Framework for the 5 years commencing 1 January 2025   The decision itself, an explanation of the rationale used by JCRA in arriving at this decision, and the consultation inputs (including from SHBOA) are all published on the JCRA website.
 https://www.jcra.je/cases/2023/regulatory-review-of-air-and-sea-port-operations/regulatory-review-of-air-and-sea-port-operations-pricing-framework-final-decision/

     The headline decision that fees will go up by RPI plus 1.8%   It is very disappointing that JCRA considered but rejected the key inputs from SHBOA.   - harbour car parking be included as regulated activity and subject to the same pricing controls - the measure of RPI used should be RPI (X) excluding the cost of housing - marina fee increases should be set at a lower level than other PoJ fee increases because the premium over RPI was allowed due to the extensive capital expenditure programme for the commercial port and airport, which should not be cross subsidised by increased marina fees - there should be a cap on the increase in marina fees   JCRA explain why they have rejected each of these arguments in their publication.   Perhaps the one consolation is that the increase is below the level that PoJ sought in their own submissions.   It’s also worth highlighting that this ‘5 year pricing framework’ can be changed in the period if there are substantive differences in the assumptions used, for example in the actual timing of capital spending on development, external factors on volumes (such as another pandemic).

As reported on 17th June 2024, the Jersey Association of Boat Owners Associations lobbied the Guernsey, Herm and Sark authorities with a view to easing the travel restrictions for Jersey boats visiting the islands. We are pleased to report that Jersey boats are now allowed to travel directly to Herm and Sark after completing an online form. The detailed email and links to the online form can be found below:

Subject : Concession for direct Herm/Sark travel for Jersey resident boatowners 

Good afternoon,   Following our meeting with the Committee for Home Affairs, as advised we have been working on a solution for Jersey resident boatowners to travel from Jersey directly into Herm or Sark without first attending at an approved port.  I am pleased to inform you that we have granted a concession for this travel starting with immediate effect and operating on a trial basis until the end of the year.  We will also be conducting compliance checks to ensure the requirements are being adhered with properly.   This concession is only available to Jersey boatowners resident in Jersey and only for travel from Jersey directly into Herm or Sark.  If you are coming from anywhere else from outside the Bailiwick i.e. France, UK, you must arrive into an approved port in Guernsey or Alderney as the concession is not valid for this travel.   If you have any goods to declare when arriving in the Bailiwick, this must be documented on the online form, and you may be requested to attend at an approved port.  I have attached the direct link below to the form which is found on our website. 
       
https://gov.gg/article/201666/Local-and-Jersey-Residents-Pleasure-Craft-Arrivals

Otherwise, follow the link and instruction below:
The form can be accessed by going to www.gov.gg/gba and following the link for “Private vessels and aircraft” and then the link for “Declaring passengers and goods – private vessels.”  At the bottom of the page on the right there is a green box entitled “Local and Jersey Residents Pleasure Craft Arrivals.”   As part of the trial, we would also appreciate any initial feedback and then we will be in touch again at the end of the season.   Kind regards   Emma  Emma Webb Head of Customs & Excise Division Guernsey Customs and Immigration BSc (Hons), CMgr MCMI

Restrictions on Jersey private boats visiting Sark and Herm

STHBOA, as part of the Jersey Association of Boat Owners Associations, has been lobbying Guernsey Border Authority, the Guernsey Home Affairs Committee, Sark Pleas and the Herm management company to remove or ease the restrictions on private Jersey boats visiting Sark and Herm.

We have been advised that the Home Affairs Committee have agreed to change the requirements on a trial basis, and GBA are working up the new procedures. We have just requested an idea of when these might be released.

We have heard through informal channels that this may involve the electronic submission of some form of transit report, though we do not know this officially or for certain.

Once the new procedure requirements are published we will communicate these through our website and FaceBook page 

The Jersey Association of Boat Owners Associations (JABOA), of which STHBOA is a participant, has written to the Guernsey Border Agency (GBA) and the Committee for Home Affairs of the States of Guernsey, requesting that border restrictions be waived for Jersey private boats to visit Sark and Herm. At present the GBA is requiring all boats visit St Peter Port and lodge a customs form in the yellow post box in the marina before proceeding to Sark or Herm. It is our view that this is disproportionate to the risks to Guernsey's immigration and customs regime and may even be in contravention of the provisions of the Common Travel Area.   We will keep you updated of progress in this dialogue.

Please read our letter by using this link

Good news for international boaters ! Thanks to a new protocol signed between the Directorate General of Customs and Excise Duties (DGDDI), the National Federation of Border Police (DNPAF), and the French Federation of Marinas (FFPP), our non-PPF marinas now have permission to welcome boats coming from abroad !

Here are the Links to the Eskale d' Armor procedures including,
the Official Press Release, the two options you have for entry, the Official Form to be completed and the list and contact email addresses for eligible Marinas..

StHBOA responds to Ports of Jersey's latest move to enforce parking charges on South Pier. You can review the Ports of Jersey Notice of intent and our initial response by clicking on the links below.

St Helier Boat Owners Response to the Increase in Mooring Fees 2024

In late November 2023 Ports of Jersey (PoJ) announced that mooring fees would rise by 11.1% from 1 January 2024. This came on top of a fee increase of over 10% in 2023.   Phil James organised an impromptu meeting for anybody with an interest in the matter, which was well attended by people from all the boat owning associations on the island.

At that meeting a grouping of volunteers to represent the different boat owning associations agreed to work together to lobby PoJ to reconsider the plan. A comprehensive rebuttal of the arguments, statistics and inflation rates used in the PoJ announcement was sent to PoJ. An exchange of correspondence with PoJ took place, and the working party decided to raise a formal issue with the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority (JCRA) which has regulatory oversight for the conduct and pricing policy of PoJ.

Phil James and Dave Garland, who had spearheaded the initiatives to engage with PoJ and JCRA, joined the Committee of STHBOA at the AGM on January 9 2024. The Harbour Master, Bill Sadler and CFO of PoJ,  Jenny Marek Murray, attended an open meeting immediately after the AGM to put forward their rationales and justifications for the fee increase, and to hear the views and take questions from those attending. At the end of the meeting they undertook to consider revising the fee increase.   They had a follow up meeting with a sub committee of SHBOA in mid January where they said they were willing to defer the increase by 3 months. They made it clear that any further reductions had been ruled out by the CEO and Board of PoJ. 

Whilst this was not as big a drop in the increase as we had lobbied and argued for, it was clear that it did represent a benefit for the majority of boatowners in St Helier, although it is important to highlight that despite promises that the change would benefit all boat owners, those with annual contracts in the old harbour, and the outlying harbours, with mid year renewals have not actually received any benefit from the concession. Not withstanding that, we estimate that the value of the concession through the deferral of the increase, has saved the boat owning community around £100,000.   We believe that PoJ would not have offered the concession without the resolute, carefully constructed and managed dialogue that was undertaken by those from the boat owning community who worked on this. The correspondence trail on the saga is set out below :-

   - announcement of fee increase by PoJ
   - letter to PoJ rejecting the premises used to justify the increase dated 7th December 2023se
   - letter of response from Harbour Master dated 18th December 24
   - further letter to Harbour Master dated 21st December 24
   - letter from JABOA to the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority dated 22nd December 24.
   - interim response from JCRA
   - final response from JCRA dated 1st February, 24.   

The issue of the sharp increase in mooring fees announced by Ports of Jersey at the end of 2023 brought the community of boat owners together to mount a campaign to lobby PoJ and the Jersey Consumer Regulatory Authority to reconsider their plans. There are a number of different boat owners associations representing the boat owning community of Jersey, and the associations decided it would be beneficial if we banded together to be able to present a united front on boating related matters in the future. As a consequence, StHBOA has entered a Memorandum of Understanding to form an advocacy body called Jersey Association of Boat Owners Associations  (JABOA) with the following groups :- 
                                              ~ Bonne Nuit BOA
                                              ~ Bouley Bay BOA
                                              ~ Gorey BOA
                                              ~ Greve de Lecq BOA
                                              ~ La Rocque BOA
                                               ~Rozel BOA
                                              ~ St Aubins BOA 

JABOA will represent the interests of all the boat owners in matters that affect.

Following the campaign that led to the deferral of the increase in berthing fees, JABOA is about to initiate a campaign to the Guernsey Border Authority on the new restrictions on private boats visiting Sark and Herm.