Jonathanmiller

[quote]Although I agree with what you are saying, I don't think it's quite true that P&O wants to cease its shipping involvement. It clearly wants to get out of the Dover-Calais business and has already ...[/quote] Unlike our esteemed moderator my background is not in industry journalism. I have always tried to make it my business to represent the interests of consumers, not producers. This is not the place for a legal argument about the definition of monopoly but it is pretty clear P&O has one. The sordid deal by which the government allowed P&O to merge with Stena set up a cartel between two monopolists - P&O and Sea France - with control of all the slots between Dover and Calais. The result was virtually identical fares, terms and conditions that made this international crossing indisputably the most costly in the world. These operators continue to exercise what is known as market power. They are now using this power to selectively introduce fares that appear designed for no other purpose than to destroy an emerging competitor. This is why SpeedFerries is quite right and entitled to seek the protection of the law against those who seek to abuse position so as to restore their cartel. Imagine criticisng someone who has been mugged for going to the police! Imagine for a moment that P&O and Sea France succeed in driving SpeedFerries to the bottom of the channel. How long would it take for prices and conditions to revert to their previous extortionate level? Ten seconds is my guess. For those who are seriously interested in an administrative discussion of what constitutes a monopoly I refer to the Office of Fair Trading link cited below: http://www.oft.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/5FC5ADD6-1FE0-4A95-BE60-30D6FA0550EA/0/oft342.pdf

[quote]I don't think anybody is being cynical. If Speedferries' route and level of service suits you then of course you should support the company. As a maritime journalist by profession I personally have do...[/quote] With the greatest respect to our esteemed moderator (a politish sort of way of saying I disagree with him)... I think you will find that - 'under the meaning of the act' - P&O does indeed have a monopoly and a dominant position. This is not itself illegal. It is how such a position is employed that risks putting P&O and its ilk into confrontation with the competition authorities. Not necessarily the weak-livered ones in London but the much fiercer and more impressive breed in Brussels. Prior to the arrival of SpeedFerries these monopolists - operating I have alleged as a cartel - produced essentially identical prices and identical restrictive and discriminatory conditions of travel. These made the short crossing the most expensive in the world by far on any meaningful basis of comparison. This was the basis of my complaint to the EU (joined by 5,000 others) which I am happy to say remains an open docket. P&O and its pals have NOT been cleared. Indeed, they are now in even deeper pooh. Your comments on economics are interesting because they are utterly, 180-degrees reversed from what I have been led to believe by authorities on this question. Firstly, I am told by those who have studied this that the economics of a fast ferry on the western channels are much less favourable than on the short sea crossing. But more significantly, I am astonished that you would dismiss the type of vessel as unimportant on a route like this. Maybe when there was a functioning cartel it mattered little. But in a competitive environment it matters hugely. The margins are crucial and operating cost, manning levels, flexibility and speed are all crucial. These are considerations I see referenced continually in the maritime trade press. I am just astonished you would dismiss them. You only have to see the P&O tubs wallowing out of Dover to know that there is something bizarre here about their operational approach. P&O is operating second-rate floating supermarkets in a marketplace that wants transportation. SeaFrance has gone to an even greater extreme, deploying new and even more absurd vast floating palaces, and is about to introduce a new one. SeaFrance is an operation that has survived only because the cartel and French state have protected it. In the face of competition, they are also in big trouble. I am certain that SpeedFerries will succeed because they are attracting phenomenal customer loyalty. This is because they are consistently offering the best value fares, a very high and caring level of customer service, and because they completely lack the arrogance of their competitors. I do not expect to see Lord Sterling cleaning a toilet; I doubt he knows how. The last time I met him the only thing he could boast about was how high he had set his prices. Can I confess to a frisson of pleasure at the mess he has got himself into in the ferry business! The bottom line here is that P&O will thankfully soon be gone from Dover because their shareholders are disgusted with the business, now apparently losing money and customers faster than ever. À donf, Curt Stavis!

I am not a competition lawyer but SpeedFerries would seem to be entirely within their rights to draw the attention of regulators to questionable pricing tactics by marketplace competitors. We shall see how the regulators respond to the complaints. They might well consider it to be unlawful predatory pricing and abuse of dominant position. But this price war will not be settled by the regulators, at the end of the day. It will be settled by consumers. I notice that P&O will now offer no long-term commitment to its ferry business. There must therefore be a good chance that they will be out of this business within 12 months. P&O's ferry business is losing money and customers at a rate of knots that suggests that those in charge have only a vague notion of what they should be doing. Their cost base is too high, they have the wrong ships, and now they are facing real competition as the cartel breaks apart. Listen for the glug-glug-glug as they sink slowly into a sea of red ink.

Okay, this is not such a huge secret - and certainly known to all travel writers. Still, if you go to www.speedferries.com/press you will find a number of interesting documents that Speedferries is putting out to the media.

I have launched a new website at www.channelpirates.com to campaign for an EU investigation into predatory pricing on the channel. It contains a petition demanding a full probe into the prices charged by the ferry and tunnel operators. Please visit!

I have launched a new website at www.channelpirates.com to campaign for an EU investigation into predatory pricing on the channel. It contains a petition demanding a full probe into the prices charged by the ferry and tunnel operators. Please visit!