Fears at ferry link
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• A merger between shipping and property group P&O and European Ferries, the Townsend Thoresen ferry company, will not distort competition on cross-Channel and Irish Sea services, the Monopolies and Mergers Commission decided this week.
Other ferry companies warned otherwise, however. Brittany Ferries claims: "The potential impact on hauliers not using the Brittany Ferries service could be substantial." The company warns that the combined operations of P&O and European Ferries would result in a dominant position in the ro-ro freight market.
Sealink is also worried. It told the Commission that P&O would be likely to switch its Ferrymasters operations from Sealink, where it is a major customer, to Euroferries.
Coastal Container Services, the only private shipping company left on the Irish Sea, is worried that P&O will use the merger to try and eliminate competition.
At the moment P&O runs 18 ferries, mostly ro-ro, freight crossings over the Irish Sea. Euroferries runs 24 ferries on cross-Channel routes, and carries more than 50% of cross Channel passengers. Together the two companies would hold about 50% of the freight traffic on both crossChannel and Irish Sea routes.
If the merger of the two companies goes ahead, it will create a group with a stock value of more than .22 billion.