Anglo-French Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel has recorded a €1.9 billion net loss, and proposed significant cuts to access rates to ramp up rail traffic.
Eurotunnel, which runs the undersea link between Britain and France, also said it needed big reductions in its €9 billion debt mountain and in interest payments.
The company reported a net loss of €1.9 billion, largely due to a €1.85 billion impairment charge, with a loss of €44m before the charge. In 2002, Eurotunnel posted a profit of €508m. Operating profit fell to €248m from €326m a year earlier.
Eurotunnel said it had made proposals to the British and French governments as well as its industry and financial partners to cut access charges paid by rail companies who use its tunnel, but that to do this it needed a more stable financial structure.
'Traffic growth for Eurostar and rail freight is strangled by high tunnel access charges and we have too much debt to reduce them unilaterally,' chief executive Richard Shirrefs said in a statement.
