British court CAT confirmation the prohibition to Eurotunnel to operate services ferry between Dover and Calais



Today the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) of the United Kingdom has rejected the resources introduced from the Eurotunnel group and the Société Coopérative de Production SeaFrance (SCOP) against the prohibition tax they 18th September gives to the British Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) to operate services ferry in the English Channel with departure To have. As a result of such Eurotunnel sentence has announced that a purchaser for MyFerryLink will look for, company that the group has constituted in 2012 in order to commercialize the line Must ferry.

In June 2012 Eurotunnel, the group that manages the railway tunnel under the English Channel, had acquired the assets of the SeaFrance French who was placed in liquidation ( on 12 June 2012) and therefore it had subcontracted the exercise of the three ferries Rodin, Berlioz and Nord-Pas-de-Calais to the SCOP, society cooperative instituted from a group of dependent of SeaFrance. The transport activity was begun on August 20, 2012 and last year, under the standards of MyFerryLink, it had realized a volume of traffic of about 440 thousand truck and 350 thousand car.

Eurotunnel has defined the sentence of "the illogical" court, as "it reduces the competition in the Channel and is contrary to the interest of the free exchange", and has emphasized that the CAT "forces the Eurotunnel group to withdraw itself from such activity". Manifesting pride in order to have created in single two years and means and without some aid a brand competitive and respected in the market of the transport through the Channel and being thanked the SCOP, its management and its staff for the professionality and the quality of their service, Eurotunnel therefore has confirmed that, as a result of the imposition by CMA to stop for a period ten-year-old the operated services ferry to the port of Having with the Berlioz ships and Rodin and to stop for a period two-year-old the services ferry to the port of Having with any ship, is disposed to sell MyFerryLink. "Given to the position of the British authorities - the managing director of Eurotunnel has asserted chairman and, Jacques Gounon - now the future of MyFerryLink it will be outside from the group".

Commenting the sentence of the court, Alasdair Smith, president of the investigating committee of CMA on the Eurotunnel case, it has explained that the absolute priority of the Competition & Markets Authority "remains that of protecting the interests of the passengers and the customers of the transport goods. With two of the operators on the Must route who realize remarkable losses (other operator is the DFDS Seaways of Danish group DFDS, ndr) - he has specified - our continuous opinion to being that the current level of competition on the route is indefensible and risks to lead to the escape of a competitor. To have one of the two single operators of ferries that are of property of a concurrent railway line it would be an evil for the customers. It would be much best for the passengers and the customers of the transport goods to have three operators in competition on the connections through the Channel, with Eurotunnel that the railway connection realizes and with two independent operators on the route ferry. The sentence would have prevented to MyFerryLink to realize services To have while it is of property of Eurotunnel, but would not have prevented to Eurotunnel to find a purchaser completely independent of suitable Eurotunnel and to operate the service ferry. We are aware - it has concluded Smith - of the potential effects of our decision on the places of work of the dependent of MyFerryLink. However there will be also a loss of places of work if MyFerryLink will continue to operate on the route and another operator goes himself some".