Proposed ferry merger threatens driver choice
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• International hauliers face an increasingly restricted choice for their Channel crossings following the news that P&O European Ferries and Brittany Ferries are discussing a merger.
P&O says the talks are "not yet at a detailed stage", but any tie-up between the two operators would further narrow cross-Channel choice for hauliers. Only two weeks ago P&O and Stena Line announced that they are to merge their short-sea Channel routes.
The near-duplicate services run by Brittany Ferries and P&O between the English South Coast and Cherbourg would be the first to come under scrutiny in a merged operation.
The discussions involve both of P&O's western routes of Portsmouth-Le Havre and Portsmouth-Cherbourg with Brittany Ferries' seven services: Poole-Cherbourg, PortsmouthCaen, Portsmouth-St Maio, Plymouth-Roscoff, Plymouth Santander, PortsmouthSantander and Cork-Roscoff.
However, City analysts believe that a merged operator would he unable to increase freight rates more than 10%. One says: "If a new Brittany Ferries/P&O operation tried to raise rates too much it would simply result in a dash to the Channel Tunnel operator."