Euro Tunnel Chunnel Now Bankrupt

The Euro Tunnel is now bankrupt, but it has a new leader to take over. A couple of years back the entire board of the EuroTunnel was sacked and a new board installed. Now we have a new boss at the helm; who comes in as the cash dry Chunnel Operation hits the end of the line. They are out of money.

Will the British be isolated again from the rest of the European Continent? The EuroTunnel has never made any money, never turned a profit. The investors where shown really impressive proformas, which would put Enron to shame. As a matter of fact if this were in the United States the operation would have been sued into oblivion by investors, State’s Attorneys Generals and Regulatory Bodies. But this is European business and things are done differently there. So there is a chance that this EuroTunnel may now have a turn-around King installed to talk over and fix the problem without the lawsuits.

Today the Tunnel is 12 Billion in debt. Jean-Louis Raymond resigned and of course all the shareholders want their money back? Wouldn’t you? But why did such a good idea fail? Is it because humans do not like to drive underground for 21 miles? Or because no one wants to take a train-ride underground at 100 miles per hour, just to come up and be forced onto an English rail system of 40-60 mph at best? There is a Semi-Fast line going to the London Suburbs, but the rest of the relay is slow and cumbersome indeed. Part of the issues was that the Ferries implemented a price reduction strategy to deal with the competition to lower the costs.

Additionally if someone from London wishes to go to France by car, they still have the car when they get there and driving a car is nightmare there and the Chunnel costs are not cheap. You could fly for about $55.00 or so from London to anywhere in Spain, Italy or France. Are we seeing a trend in the world with transportation issues? Will the EuroTunnel survive simply thru subsidies in transportation? If so, why not make it free to travel and really open up the trade routes? After all if the EU is serious about having everyone on board then, they need to be thinking here? Picking up the assets out of bankruptcy cannot be too bad? But presently it is a complete and utter failure and a dismal fiasco. Think on this.

Lance Winslow II