Eurotunnel to sue ferry firms

EUROTUNNEL is planning to take legal action over what it claims is unfair state aid paid by France to cross-Channel ferry firms.

Chief executive Jacques Gounon said in an interview to coincide with the tunnel’s 20th anniversary that the firm was planning to launch a case later this year with the European Commission on competition grounds.

The firm wants to increase its market share and is expecting a significant boost from the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the arrival of Deutsche Bahn, which is planning to start running trains under the Channel Tunnel in 2013.

“There is no reason for us to be stuck at a market share of 40 per cent,” Mr Gounon told Reuters.

“We don’t want to attack ferries, but we need to come back to fair competition rules.”

Eurotunnel is already involved in a legal dispute in France over public funding for the Dieppe-Newhaven ferry link.