Guest 743- Registered: 28 Feb 2012
- Posts: 260
Sorry if there's already a post on this
Can't help thinking Charlie's killing off investment in the port on this one, surely it's a good thing to have extra competition
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/east_kent_mercury/news/Jobs-in-doubt-as-Eurotunnel-1582/Guest 743- Registered: 28 Feb 2012
- Posts: 260
Oooops just spotted Sea news sorry guys my bad should open my eyes more
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
no problem john, the issue deserves its own thread, both local news channels sent their big guns to dover to cover the story.
interviews with the top honchos of my ferry, dfds and eurotunnel.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
I think that company should stay it will help to keep cost of going over down and it also give jobs. I was told it might not be true but I was told that PO do have money in the Eurotunnel setup so why should it not be the same the other way round.?
Guest 1178- Registered: 31 Jan 2014
- Posts: 29
Either we have a free market with a level playing field for all parties or we go back to the bad old days of secret foreign government subsidies wrecking UK industry.
MFL's operation is simply not fair. End of.
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
of course its fair andy,it gives the public more choice,and apart from that it keeps 600 people employed in times of ostaraty.good for compation.
to make a futher point there are two eqations.
1/ p&o are owned by arabs.
2/ dfds is a Danish company.
so in short no british company is being hit in this situation.
SWWood- Location: Dover
- Registered: 30 May 2012
- Posts: 261
It seems utterly bizarre to me that anyone can think it is a good idea for Eurotunnel to muscle in on Dover ferry operations. I cannot understand how giving them that much of the market can possibly be good for Dover, given that their priority will always be the Tunnel.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
2 separate entanys sw wood.
1 is a ferry boat that floats on water
the other is a train that floats on railway tracks under the water.
simples really.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
And both owned by the same company Brian - that's where the argument is.
Roger
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
two separate companys roger.i cant see the word Eurotunnel painted on the side of the ship can you.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
Leaving aside Eurostar (which is anyway not in competition with the ferries, but with short-haul airlines), the problem to me seems not that there is too much, or unfair, competition on the short sea route, but there is none whatsoever on the tunnel route. One service operator, who is owned by the infrastructure operator, and who gets subsidised power from EDF in France. That would be like P&O owning the ports of Dover and Calais and not allowing anyone else to sail between them. This, to me, has always been the elephant in the room. Other operators ought to be able to run shuttles through the tunnel. Problem is, the barriers to entry are just too high, and with the tunnel owning the trains, it would be a fool who made such an investment. Instead of forcing MFL off the water, the competition authorities should be making Eurotunnel break up their vertically integrated structure, sell off the shuttle business (to P&O? Stagecoach? Virgin?) and announce a common tariff for other shuttle operators. Then, and only then, will we have a level playing field. That, I think, would be common sense. Oh, but we are talking about Brussels. Sorry I forgot.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,880
If the train is not running for some reason at the moment surely the trade will automatically be guided towards MyFerryLink owned by Eurotunnel. previously all other operators would have had an equal share of the trade.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
Most high volume operators such as Norbert Dentressangle, Willi Betz, Eddie Stobart, etc. have deals with all or most operators, to maximise flexibility so they will make their own minds up. But yes, Jan, you are right, other users, particularly the private motorist, will have no choice, having already paid up front.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
A lot of talk about high number of job losses but the same number of cars, coaches and trucks will need to cross via Dover and Calais.
The remaining carriers will pick up the slack and no doubt some streamlining will take place and some jobs lost but I don't think it will be on a grand scale.
Guest 1178- Registered: 31 Jan 2014
- Posts: 29
Where the finance comes from really doesn't matter. What matters is the creation of a level playing field for all competitors. We also need to remember that the tunnel itself went bankrupt and had to be bailed out with massive amounts of money. It is rather ironic is it not that the tunnel which knocked the ferries for six and in so doing bankrupted itself should now be messing about as a ferry operator itself. Why are they doing this? Mainly at the behest of the French government I would think, as a solution to the employment problems in Calais caused by the machinations of the French seamen. Let's have sympathy for them by the way, but not too much. They created the mess they are in after all.
P & O Ferries is a a huge Dover employer. Their headquarters are here and they deserve support and not the constant sniping they receive from certain contributors. I think the problem is that a certain section of the community still harks back to the painful re-structuring which had to take place to prevent the operation heading into Carey Street as did Seafrance so spectacularly a few years later.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
andy,there is still a lot of resentment towards p&o today,couple that with zero hours and agency staff spells disaster.