Dover ferry ban upheld
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will bar Eurotunnel ferries from Dover before the end of 2014.
It has provisionally confirmed an earlier decision by the Competition Commission (CC) that the French group should cease operating from the key port to Calais.
CMA ruled that circumstances had not changed enough in the market for it to alter its original decision.
In 2012, Eurotunnel bought three ro-paxes from defunct SeaFrance and started a Dover to Calais run under the MyFerryLink name.
Last June, the CC said this would increase its share of the market to over half, including the Channel Tunnel, and force one of P&O Ferries or the DFDS/LD Lines joint venture out of the market, forcing up prices as a result.
An appeal tribunal referred the decision back to the CC, however, before CMA took over the case in April.
CMA said on Tuesday: “Passenger growth on the Dover–Calais route has been greater than originally anticipated, but at least two of the ferry operators are still making substantial losses.
“The provisional view of the CMA is that, if Eurotunnel is allowed to continue its ferry service from Dover, a competitor is likely to withdraw from Dover–Calais.”
It also rejected a proposal from Eurotunnel for MyFerryLink to run the service independently.
This would need “access to substantial new financing and the CMA believes that the proposal as it stands would be subject to too much uncertainty and delay to represent an effective solution.”
DFDS wanted the notice period for MyFerryLink to stop operating from Dover to be cut to three months from six months, but this was rejected as well.
Alasdair Smith, CMA deputy panel chair, said: “MyFerryLink is making losses and being funded by Eurotunnel.
“This is causing the current level of competition on the Dover–Calais route to be unsustainable and is likely to lead to the exit of a competitor.”
The CMA will now consider further responses before publishing its final decision next month.
Eurotunnel said CMA was simply seeking to “justify the Competition Commission's original analysis, despite the change in the facts relating to the market.”
It added market growth has been far greater than the 2% predicted by CMA, and DFDS continues to operate successfully in the market.
