Ferrymen in link bid
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• The two ferry companies running Britain's busiest RO-RO route are to ask again for permission to run joint timetables to counter the threat to their business posed by the Channel Tunnel.
Sealink and P&O want to co-operate on sailing times on their routes between Dover, Calais and Boulogne: an earlier bid was rejected by the Office of Fair Trading, but it will reconsider their case closer to the Chunnel opening which is scheduled for summer 1993.
Eurotunnel, which owns the Chunnel, has drawn up forecasts of likely rates for hauliers, but speaking at last week's Tankcon
in Chorley, Lanes, freight marketing manager John Chapman would only say they will be "competitive" with the ferries.
Eurotunnel's policy on hazardous loads will be "fairly restrictive", says Chapman, leaving many hazchem operators with no choice but the ferries. Its list of banned cargoes will be released soon. "Our philosophy is entirely based on safety," adds Chapman.