Running a French Holiday Gite in Rural Brittany

Friday, January 09, 2015

Breaking news: Competition Appeal Tribunal rejects Eurotunnel's appeal to continue with MyFerryLink service

MyFerryLink logo
I've written about this before in 2013 when the Competition Commission first got involved and with an update in early 2014, but the long and the short of it is that the Competition Commission decided that Eurotunnel's acquisition of SeaFrance assets and setting up MyFerryLink created unfair competition on the Dover/Calais straights that when combined with Eurotunnel's undersea traffic would create a market dominance.
Eurotunnel has appealed this decision at several junctures including the Competition Appeal Tribune and today they finally reached the end of the road as the Eurotunnel Judgement was handed down by the C.A.T.

In essence the C.A.T. has rejected all of Eurotunnel's claims and as such the original Competition and Markets Authority appeal decision that Eurotunnel must cease MyFerryLink operations within 6 months stands.

Eurotunnel's press release talks of the 'illogical' nature of the CMA decision but confirms that MyFerryLink will now be put up for sale. MyFerryLink is still not making a profit (despite Eurotunnel claiming its commercial success) so be interesting to see whether one of the existing ferry companies (DFDS or P&O) makes a bid - which will surely get referred to the CMA as well - or whether a new entrant wants to join the market.

As pointed out by Kent Online, up to 600 jobs could be affected with the closure of MyFerryLink if a buyer cannot be found.

MFL is still operating and taking bookings, even just now giving out sailing details and prices when I tried for Autumn 2015, but presumably this will cease.

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