[LuganoPirate]

This in today’s DM.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-2918637/Ferry-companies-welcome-extra-MILLION-holidaymakers-board-just-one-year-families-ditch-paying-baggage-airlines.html

It seems people really prefer the ferries to both the Tunnel and the LCC’s.

[LuganoPirate]

Reading the article I though this statistic was interesting and proving the ferries are anything but dying.

Ferries account for a third (33 per cent) of journeys compared to just under a quarter (23 per cent) by air, a similar proportion (23 per cent) by Eurotunnel and just over one in five (21 per cent) by Eurostar.

Seems people are really put off by the hassle factor of flying.

[transtraxman]

Very interesting statistics – despite being published in the Daily Mail.

I think they bring more power to the elbow – the sea ferries are a vital lifeline and should not be descriminated against. For Britain and Ireland´s passengers there is no alternative to sea ferries when air services are disrupted. For their freight traffic there is no alternative full stop. The Chunnel is very useful and necessary but when it comes down to the wire is only an add-on at a particular point of these offshore islands.

The only rail link with Continental Europe, affecting 44% of all traffic (Eurotunnel and Eurostar), which can be cut by accident or design is a very dangerous situation for these islands. All the more the ferries should be protected.

[AMcWhirter]

The ferries are needed.

There’s still disruption at Eurotunnel. Earlier on there were delays of three and four hours with power suuply issues and single bore running within the Tunnel.

Long queue of lorries. “Operation stack” still being enforced on the M20.

[SimonS1]

The whole saga with the tunnel appears completely shambolic. Taking ages to recover from the weekend problems – and I saw somewhere the tunnel will be closed again Saturday night for “planned maintenance”.

[AnthonyDunn]

Added to which, the completely contradictory explanations coming from Eurostar and the tunnel operator. about what had happened, what fixes were required and what services were to operate.

Bearing in mind the, by now, repeat instances of lorry fires, just what is Le Shuttle and the freight haulage industry doing to get a long-overdue grip on this issue? Just how is it that lorries can either over-heat or burst into flames once on the back of a rail flat-bed?

The issue is by no means confined to the Chunnel but is also an issue for the ferry industry as well. The Italian ferry that caught fire en route from Athens to Italy over the New Year went up in flames so nicely because the cargo of trucks and storage vessels containing highly inflammable olive oil leaked onto hot engine parts after vehicle overhead clearance rules were, apparently, ignored. The ship pitched in heavy seas, the tanks hit the roof and ruptured and then caught fire. It was a miracle that the entire ship and its passengers were not comprehensively cooked.

Canucklad: From my time in the MoDUK – when Chunnel counter-terrorism issues were part of my remit – I can advise that there was a lot of investment in time, procedures and equipment to prevent terrorist attacks. It would appear that it is the ostensibly “low level” stuff (lorry fires) that is causing the problems. That said, there are few places with public access that are entirely 100% safe from any kind of eventuality.

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