In the middle of last month we reported in our regular e-brief about Euroferries, the would-be cross Channel shipping operator that has yet to make a single crossing on its much publicised Ramsgate to Boulogne route. You can read that original story here (under the heading Channel cats).

So we were interested in the news earlier this week that the catamaran that Euroferries said they would use for the service is still laid up in the Canary Islands, and no longer carries the Euroferries name and logo. The owners of the ship, Fred Olsen Lines, are reported as saying that the discussions to lease the ship to Euroferries are no longer in play. Which begs the interesting question as to quite which vessel Euroferries will deploy on their début crossing from England to France on 1 March 2010.

It is now four years since Euroferries first popped up. And for over a year they have been claiming to be “the leading fast ferry operator on the English Channel.” Quite some claim, especially as they have yet to run a ferry service of any kind. Caveat emptor is the phrase that naturally springs to mind, as would-be cross-Channel passengers contemplate with which company they should book.  Even Blanchard, the first person ever to cross the Channel by balloon (in January 1785), did not need four years preparation to make the crossing from England to France.

Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
(hidden europe)