Eurotunnel seeks 9.7m euros after migrant disruption
The company that runs the cross-Channel rail tunnel said Wednesday it was seeking 9.7 million euros ($10.67 million) from the British and French governments in compensation for disruption caused by illegal migrants. In a scheduled financial statement, Eurotunnel said first-half profits were 39 million euros, after an 11-million-euro loss over the same period in 2014 inflicted by its troubled MyFerryLink unit. Eurotunnel said it was seeking the compensation after it incurred a security bill of 13 million euros in the first half of 2015 trying to stop migrants crossing to England from France. The amount was equivalent to its entire costs in this sector for all of 2014. "The British government has already committed to taking on 4.7 million euros for 2015," it said. Around two-thirds of the 9.7 million comes from fencing and other security measures, and the rest from loss of income caused by closure of the line. Thousands of migrants are camped out around the port in the northern French city of Calais, seeking to climb aboard trucks heading for England and the freight trains that haul them through the tunnel. At least four people have died in and around the tunnel entrance in recent weeks. France and Britain signed an agreement last September, creating a fund of five million euros ($5.6 million) per year to help Calais cope with the migrant influx. The money was earmarked for reinforcing security around the port and access to the tunnel. Rail traffic has also been hit by striking French seamen. The sailors, from the French ferry company MyFerryLink, are protesting plans by Eurotunnel to sell two of their ferries to rival firm DFDS. Eurotunnel said group first-half revenue rose 16.1 percent to 648.8 million euros The group stood by its forecasts of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) for 2015 of 535 million euros, and 580 million in 2016.
