P&O Ferries has threatened to report Eurotunnel to the European Commission if its plan to buy SeaFrance’s ships breaches European competition rules.
The warning came after Eurotunnel, the Channel tunnel operator, told a French newspaper it might buy SeaFrance’s three ships from the company’s administrator reports the Financial Times.
Jacques Gounon, Eurotunnel’s executive chairman, said it would lease the ships to a new operator, possibly a co-operative of SeaFrance’s staff.
Chris Laming, P&O’s communications director, said it appeared to be a ‘never-ending battle’ to persuade the French authorities that there should be a level playing field between different operators.
“If we felt that competition rules were being breached by our major cross-Channel competitor – Eurotunnel, with 40 per cent of the market – we would complain vigorously to the competition authorities in a bid to protect our own position,” he said.
France’s Tribunal de Commerce ordered SeaFrance’s liquidation yesterday, see previous story, after it ruled out accepting any of the bids that had been made for the company, owned by SNCF, France’s state-owned train operator.
SeaFrance’s vessels have been out of use since the court placed the company in administration in November.
By Diane Evans
