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.
Dover privatisation moves a step closer
The Department for Transport has ruled that the port’s harbour dues in 2010 and 2011 were not unfair
For some time Dover Harbour Board (DHB), one of the UK’s few remaining Trust ports and Europe’s busiest ferry port, has been lobbying for privatisation in order to fund new investments, in particular a £400M new ferry terminal that will effectively double the size of the port.
The port’s customers, P&O Ferries, DFDS Seaways (formerly Norfolkline Shipping) and the (now defunct) Seafrance lodged appeals in June 2010 and February 2011 respectively against DHB’s harbour dues.
DHB’s Harbour Revision Order for the new ferry terminal was approved by the government last December, about the same time as the DfT completed its inquiry into the harbour dues.
On 21 May the DfT informed P&O, DFDS and the liquidators of Seafrance that it had approved the harbour dues. Although the DfT inspector and the Secretary of State for Transport agreed that the harbour dues must be assessed in the context of DHB’s current trust port status, the decision has inevitably been linked to the privatisation plan.
“The decision, coming only a few months after DHB received formal government approval for its second ferry terminal (Terminal 2), is another significant vote of confidence in the strategic direction of the UK’s busiest trust port and its management team,” stated DHB.
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