DFDS scuppers Dover-Calais space charter after P&O finds new partner
NewsDFDS has told the market that they will be sailing solo on the busy Dover-Calais route, as their space charter agreement with P&O Ferries expires at the end of August.
Eurotunnel Le Shuttle Freight record
Just before Christmas Eurotunnel announced that its Le Shuttle Fret service had carried its 23Mth truck since commercial services started in 1994 and hit a new all-time annual record, beating the previous high set in 2012, the year of the London Olympic Games
Buoyed by the new truck terminal security put in place in October, the service carried 1,464,880 trucks in both directions between Folkestone and Coquelles, still with some eight days to go before calendar year end.
With 45% infrastructure capacity still available, three new truck shuttles on order – increasing the fleet to 22 – and a market which continues to grow, the outlook is positive, said Eurotunnel.
The contrast in the fortunes of through rail freight trains could not be more stark. While Le Shuttle has withstood the disturbances of migrants and strikers, during July-September the number of freight trains using the Channel Tunnel fell by a third and tonnage fell by 27% to 283,016t.
In addition, despite all the disruption, the Port of Dover is set to have a record-breaking year. In September the number of trucks using the ferries increased by 4.2% (9000 trucks) year-on-year, even though the number of ferries has been reduced from 13 to 11 (no more MyFerryLink).
Dover handled almost 2.5M freight units in 2014, its highest figure since 2007, and could be set to top that in 2015.
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