Ferries stick firm on 10% surcharges
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• Cross-Channel ferry companies have stuck by their decision to impose currency surcharges of up to 10%, despite complaints to the Office of Fair Trading by the FTA and the RHA.
The associations complain that the ferry companies appear to have breached the 1976 Restrictive Trade Practices Ad by using the same scale of surcharges and bringing them into effect within a day of each other.
RHA director of operators Tim Inman says: 'We are dismayed at the similarity in both timing and content of the companies' surcharge notifications. We believe that gives grounds for suspecting concerted action."
The associations are particularly angry that the charges apply only to freight movements paid for in sterling; there is no surcharge on passenger fares or on freight rates paid in currencies other than sterling.
But Sealink Stena, P&O European Ferries, Sally Line and North Sea Ferries have all said that the surcharges will remain, and Sealink has hit back at the road transport industry's complaints: "There is no way we could consider backing down. On our French routes a little over half of our costs have to be paid in French Francs and those costs have risen by 18% since Black Wednesday. We've absorbed them until now, but we cannot afford to go on.
"If hauliers' diesel costs doubled, they would pass the cost on to their customers," he says. "That's all we're doing. RHA members should question the credibility of their organisation in suggesting we can absorb these costs."