MyFerryLink Stays in Business

The English Channel ferry operator MyFerryLink is set to resume its operations on the Dover-Calais route past July 9, after the UK Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to ban the company’s owners and operators Eurotunnel and SCOP from operating ferries out of Dover.

Back in February, MyFerryLink won a permission from the Court of Appeal to contest the CMA’s 10-year ban.

According to CMA’s original ruling, Eurotunnel’s acquisition of SeaFrance back in June 2012 constituted a merger, and not a mere purchase of ships. However, Eurotunnel argued that it ”acquired the assets of the defunct company, SeaFrance, in June 2012 following an open and public process.”

The company then subcontracted the operation of the ferries Rodin, Berlioz and Nord-Pas-de-Calais to an independent company, the SCOP SeaFrance, according to a statement issued by the company.

 ”The decision of the Court of Appeal is very comprehensive, exposing fatal flaws in the CMA’s analysis,”  said MyFerryLink’s CEO Jean-Michel Giguet.

”The decision represents a significant victory both for our dedicated employees and for our customers, who will continue to benefit from healthy competition on the short sea. This should now spell the end of the road for the CMA’s (supported always by DFDS) attempts to suppress the MFL business, which has always sought to deliver a high quality and reliable service for its customers.”

DFDS Seaways, one of the MyFerryLink’s major competitors on the route said that the decision made by the Court of Appeals ”runs counter to the consistent findings of the UK competition authorities and specialist appeal body since 2012.”

MyFerryLink operates up to 24 daily crossings on the Dover-Calais route.