Post by ferryfast admin on Feb 3, 2012 13:45:59 GMT -5
February 3, 2012 5:06 pm
New ferry route casts doubt on Eurotunnel plan
By Robert Wright, Shipping and Logistics Correspondent
Financial Times-London
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c8379d90-4e5a-11e1-8670-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1lLUxJETk
Plans by Eurotunnel, the Channel Tunnel operator, to back a new cross-Channel ferry operation will face greater competition after Denmark’s DFDS announced plans to launch a new service in conjunction with France’s LD Lines between Dover and Calais.
The new service aims to compete with P&O Ferries, which has been the only operator between Dover and Calais since November, when SeaFrance, the debt-laden French state-owned operator, stopped sailing. DFDS already operates three cross-Channel vessels from Dover, sailing to Dunkirk.
The move by DFDS and LD Lines, part of France’s Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, comes after France’s commercial courts late last year rejected bids by the pair for the assets of SeaFrance, which was instead put into liquidation last month. The pair, who are forming a partnership rather than a joint venture, plan to start the new service with an existing DFDS vessel, the Norman Spirit, on February 17. They hope to start operating a second vessel if a suitable ferry can be found.
LD Lines previously operated a cross-Channel service between Dover and Boulogne but ended the service in 2010 after less than two years.
Chris Newey, DFDS’s passenger director for the English Channel, said the pair had bid for SeaFrance because they had seen an opportunity to expand their English Channel services.
“The logic behind that hasn’t gone away,” he said. “With SeaFrance’s going into liquidation, the only route available to us was to start a service ourselves.”
Eurotunnel last month announced plans to buy SeaFrance’s three, relatively new ships and lease them out to a new operator on the Dover to Calais route. The new partnership plans to hire about 300 of the redundant SeaFrance staff, potentially reducing the chances of Eurotunnel’s leasing the ships to a new co-operative of former SeaFrance staff. The new service will also intensify the competition facing any new operation using the SeaFrance ships.
Mr Newey said the new partnership would consider using one of the former SeaFrance vessels to bolster its service.
However, Eurotunnel insisted that its plans remained on course, saying it was “not at all surprised” at the ferry operators’ step.
“It will have no impact on our plans,” Eurotunnel said. “We will still follow the timetable that we are waiting for the administrator to set out for the sale of the assets of SeaFrance.”
Mr Newey said DFDS would provide some elements of the service, while LD Lines would provide others. DFDS remained fully committed to its Dover to Dunkirk service, he added.
New ferry route casts doubt on Eurotunnel plan
By Robert Wright, Shipping and Logistics Correspondent
Financial Times-London
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c8379d90-4e5a-11e1-8670-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1lLUxJETk
Plans by Eurotunnel, the Channel Tunnel operator, to back a new cross-Channel ferry operation will face greater competition after Denmark’s DFDS announced plans to launch a new service in conjunction with France’s LD Lines between Dover and Calais.
The new service aims to compete with P&O Ferries, which has been the only operator between Dover and Calais since November, when SeaFrance, the debt-laden French state-owned operator, stopped sailing. DFDS already operates three cross-Channel vessels from Dover, sailing to Dunkirk.
The move by DFDS and LD Lines, part of France’s Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, comes after France’s commercial courts late last year rejected bids by the pair for the assets of SeaFrance, which was instead put into liquidation last month. The pair, who are forming a partnership rather than a joint venture, plan to start the new service with an existing DFDS vessel, the Norman Spirit, on February 17. They hope to start operating a second vessel if a suitable ferry can be found.
LD Lines previously operated a cross-Channel service between Dover and Boulogne but ended the service in 2010 after less than two years.
Chris Newey, DFDS’s passenger director for the English Channel, said the pair had bid for SeaFrance because they had seen an opportunity to expand their English Channel services.
“The logic behind that hasn’t gone away,” he said. “With SeaFrance’s going into liquidation, the only route available to us was to start a service ourselves.”
Eurotunnel last month announced plans to buy SeaFrance’s three, relatively new ships and lease them out to a new operator on the Dover to Calais route. The new partnership plans to hire about 300 of the redundant SeaFrance staff, potentially reducing the chances of Eurotunnel’s leasing the ships to a new co-operative of former SeaFrance staff. The new service will also intensify the competition facing any new operation using the SeaFrance ships.
Mr Newey said the new partnership would consider using one of the former SeaFrance vessels to bolster its service.
However, Eurotunnel insisted that its plans remained on course, saying it was “not at all surprised” at the ferry operators’ step.
“It will have no impact on our plans,” Eurotunnel said. “We will still follow the timetable that we are waiting for the administrator to set out for the sale of the assets of SeaFrance.”
Mr Newey said DFDS would provide some elements of the service, while LD Lines would provide others. DFDS remained fully committed to its Dover to Dunkirk service, he added.