DFDS admits error over failure to charge port dues

Chris Parker, from DFDS, said a technical issue caused a delay to customer charges

A ferry company has admitted that technical issues meant it did not charge freight providers for port dues when it was supposed to.

DFDS said it had to retrospectively charge companies for using Jersey's port, causing Jersey Oyster and other businesses to express frustration.

Deputy Montfort Tadier, head of the economic and international affairs scrutiny panel, said he had been contacted by importers and exporters who had been hit with the unexpected charge.

DFDS told the BBC that port dues were not new and that it simply had not charged customers when it was supposed to.

Andy Hart said his company had sold oysters based on freight costs incurred at the time

Route director Chris Parker, from DFDS, said passing on the charge of port dues to customers had always been the business model in Jersey.

He said: "There have been invoices that have gone out for retrospective charges but those charges are from ports of Jersey and they are consistent with what has been charged historically."

Mr Parker said the oversight had been caused by a technical issue.

Jersey Oyster, grower and exporter of mussels and oysters, said it acknowledged that it paid the dues under previous operator Condor but said the oversight had caused challenges for the business.

Andy Hart, financial controller at Jersey Oyster, said: "We received some emails from DFDS saying they had due to an oversight not been charging port fees and harbour dues on any of our exports from Jersey.

"They were not only going to reintroduce the charges which is understandable but then retrospectively include them as well, which is more of a problem for us.

"We have sold those oysters that were exported on those shipments, our customers paid for them based on costs we set based on freight rates we knew about, so we don't have the option to go to our customers and recharge them.

"If we did that, they would laugh at us and buy oysters from somewhere else."