Sir Ray wrote:I always like to know underlying reasons, and the article attached didn't provide much information - why is there little chunnel freight business (except I guess for truck shuttles?) - does most freight go in truck/lorry via ferry service? Didn't the Chunnel have rail freight service, and end up pricing it out of existance?
Eurotunnel has four businesses. Their own shuttles carry cars, buses and vans in one set of trains; another set carries lorries. There is Eurostar - owned by another company, and rail freight, owned by various companies, though mainly by EWS (formerly a subsidiary of Wisconsin Central, then of CN, now I am not sure who owns it). For several years the Board of Eurotunnel has been talking of setting up its own railfreight subsidiary to provide a one-stop shop for freight service.
The lorry shuttles are doing well. Frequency is up and new trains have been built to increase capacity. I am not sure of the market share but I think it is about 50%. Cars are a little disappointing. The low ferry fares have reduced demand, and frequency has been cut, especially at night. Rail freight is the real disappointment.
One factor is that British loading gauge is narrower than in Europe and therefore ordinary European trains can't use it. (They would be able to use the new link, at least at night, as far as London, but the freight depot for continental trains I hoped would be built in Essex at Dagenham has not been built yet).
Buying these locomotives suggests serious intent. The plans faded from view when the French shareholders ousted the half British Board and installed a wholly French board.
Now that this new board appears to have finally solved the debt problem, they are highlighting the rail freight problem.
EWS complains about the tolls charged by Eurotunnel. Until recently the governments guaranteed payments to Eurotunnel, but I think these payments have now ceased. I have long thought that a Eurotunnel owned company would be hungrier in getting business than EWS. I have seen recent reports that even the low level of rail freight at present is in danger of ceasing.
(I am a shareholder - of worthless shares).
Here is a quote via the Motley Fool (UK) site
PARIS (AFX) - Two major operators of rail freight trains through the Channel tunnel have decided to halt their services because of rising costs charged by Eurotunnel SA/Eurotunnel PLC, the Financial Times reported.
Unilog, which runs trains from Muizen in Belgium to Daventry and Manchester in the UK, accounted for about 20 pct of cross-Channel rail freight last year. It intends to cease trading after becoming unprofitable following a change in the services' financing arrangements on Dec, the newspaper said.
The last Unilog train will run on Thursday, according to the report.
The Railfreight Group, an industry lobby group, said GTS Transport, an Italian logistics company, has also decided to stop a four times a week service it used to charter from EWS between Bari and Piacenza in Italy and Manchester, the FT added.
The decisions are a setback for EWS, the British company that jointly runs the services with France's SNCF, the state-owned train operator, the report said.
Graham Smith, EWS planning director, told the newspaper he is very disappointed at the services' cessation.
'We had hoped that the agreement we had reached with the UK government in November would be the starting point for expanding traffic, rather than reducing it,' he said. 'Unfortunately, the costs are still too high - and more than the market can bear.'
http://www.logisticsmgmt.com/articleXml ... 31728.html
