Channel row intensifies
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• The war of words between Sealink and Eurotunnel has intensified further with the ferry operator claiming it will lose "very little" of its freight traffic to the Channel Tunnel operator. In an aggressive speech at a European transport conference last week, Sealink Stena Line's director Gareth Cooper said that Eurotunnel had vastly over-estimated the amount of freight traffic that it will capture from the ferries.
On short sea crossings Euro tunnel hopes to win 40% of the freight market: Cooper said a more realistic figure would be 25%. On long sea routes Eurotunnel's estimate of a 15% market share should be lowered to 9%, he added.
"These optimistic forecasts have obviously been necessary to justify the financing of Eurotunnel in terms of its borrowings and revenue forecasts," Cooper told the conference.
Eurotunnel has hit back angrily — it says that its traffic forecasts are made by independent consultants. It also alleges that some of Sealink's revenue forecasts for the tunnel are wrong.
Sealink says that while it expects to lose ground on tourist traffic, it is "particularly confident on the freight market", and expects to be cheaper than the tunnel, although Eurotunnel has not yet published its prices.
Eurotunnel freight sales manager John Chapman says that he is "optimistic over the size of the freight market it will capture, when the tunnel opens in June 1993, and stresses that its rates will be competitive. The company will offer no booking' crossings and guaranteed transit times, he adds.
El Brittany Ferries will add the 31,400-tonne ferry Nils Holgersson to its PlymouthRoscoff and Plymouth-Santander routes early next year.
The company has bought the ferry for £70m, representing 20% of its total investment in response to the threat from the Channel Tunnel. The rest is being spent on upgrading the ports of Portsmouth and Poole and on two superferries to operate from them in the spring.