Record revenues for Channel Tunnel as freight delivers gains
EUROTUNNEL hopes that Britons will continue to use the Channel Tunnel while the UK reassesses its relationship with the Continent, after the firm posted record revenues for 2012.
“I would recommend that Great Britain remains in Europe,” said chief executive Jacques Gounon, who thinks the vast majority of his customers support Britain’s place in the EU.
“Tunnel traffic is 75 to 80 per cent related to the UK economy. When I see in London the cranes and the restaurants that are full, even if I see staff reductions in the City, I’m still impressed,” he said.
Revenues for the tunnel operator rose 14 per cent to €993.1m (£833.9m) last year.
This was helped by a 28 per cent surge in turnover to €209.5m at Europorte, the group’s freight arm.
Truck shuttle traffic rose 16 per cent to 1.46m vehicles in 2012, which the firm said made it “a world leader in piggy back transport”.
Car traffic rose seven per cent to 2.4m as tourists drove in to see the Queen’s Jubilee and the Olympics, while the Eurostar carried 9.9m passengers in 2012.