Freight News, Sea

Updated: Eurotunnel to sell MyFerryLink to DFDS

[ June 8, 2015   //   Chris ]

The Eurotunnel Group is to sell its MyFerryLink to DFDS, including the Rodin and Berlioz vessels. Eurotunnel anticipates that the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) should not object as it will lead to two maritime operators of equal importance. Moreover, the sale should ensure that the activity remains in Calais, unlike the sale of the SeaFrance Moliere by MyFerryLink’s predecessor, Le Credit Lyonnais, which ended up being operated in the Irish Sea.
Eurotunnel also said it regrets that the SCOP SeaFrance workers’ cooperative which was the actual owner and operator of MyFerryLink has not had the support it needed to be able to present a takeover proposal.
The Eurotunnel Group believes that the constructive manner in which DFDS conducted itself during the recruitment of ex SeaFrance personnel in 2012 gives hope of preserving employment, without interruption to services.
However, Eurotunnel Group itself hopes to continue to be allowed by the competition authorities to operate the Nord Pas de Calais freight ferry, the Eurotunnel Group, in order to maintain its transport operations in coordination with the Fixed Link. Presumably, the freight ferry could be used to carry dangerous goods barred from the tunnel or, possibly, to maintain services at a time when tunnel freight shuttle services are disrupted.

Tags: DFDS, eurotunnel, Myferrylink