Eurotunnel/Eurostar - COVID and BREXIT impacts

In September 2020, Eutotunnel’s press release reports that Le Shuttle Freight carried 131,985 trucks, up 2% compared to September 2019. Since 1st January 2020, more than 1.03 million trucks have crossed the Channel on the freight Shuttles.

In September 2020, Le Shuttle transported 127,623 passenger vehicles despite the end of the summer period being impacted by the re-imposition from 15 August of quarantine measures for travellers coming from several countries including France, which resulted in early returns as well as travel postponements. Since the beginning of the year, more than 1.18 million tourist vehicles have crossed the Channel on our Shuttles.

Meanwhile Euractiv reported news of a new report published on 22 September accusing the UK government of failing to ensure that the cross-Channel rail link can continue to operate after the Brexit transition is over, while EU officials are yet to confirm their plans for the tunnel.

According to the UK European Scrutiny Committee report, the lack of progress in brokering a new agreement covering the Channel Tunnel raises “concerns about the safe operation of the Tunnel after 31 December given that most EU law will no longer apply in the UK.”

It is the UK’s only surface transport link with mainland Europe, used by roughly 11 million passengers every year, and is governed by the Anglo-French Canterbury Treaty, which will need to be amended to reflect the new legal order.

Eurostar has meanwhile warned that the UK government needs to step in and support the Eurostar cross-Channel train link. Dyan Crowther, who heads up the UK’s only high speed rail link, running from London to the Channel Tunnel, said the train operator has cut its scheduled services. The company has gone from offering 30 trains a day to Paris and Brussels pre-pandemic, to just five a day.