Activity and performance
The Channel Tunnel is the fastest, easiest, most reliable and environmentally-friendly way to cross the Short Straits.
Eurotunnel is developing a long-term strategy for profitable growth, by giving its customers, passengers, road hauliers, railway operators, high value-added solutions through the Channel Tunnel and beyond.
The services provided by Eurotunnel Truck and Passenger Shuttles deliver a strong competitive edge by continuously strengthening its commercial offers and in particular its quality of service, security and fluidity of trafic through its digital transformation plan and investments.
New market share gains on the Short Straits in 2019
- Car market share of 56.9%, up 2.3 points, outperforming the declining market (down by 6.2%)
- Strengthening of the quality of service for the year
- Slight decrease in car traffic of 2%, due to uncertainties surrounding Brexit
- Pricing power of service
- Increase in yield.
A service of quality and personalised
million cars transported on Le Shuttle in 2019
pets crossed the Short Straits with Le Shuttle in 2019
of the vehicles travelling with Le Shuttle choose Flexiplus
Leadership consolidated in 2019
- Truck market share consolidated at 40.4%, in a market declining by 4.9% over the year
- Strengthening of the quality of service with a hauliers’ satisfaction rate of 86% for the year
- New all-time record for monthly traffic set in October with 153,600 trucks transported
- Increase in load factor of Shuttles
- Volume of traffic affected in 2019 by the uncertainties surrounding Brexit and the social strikes in France (Customs and against pension reform)
- Increase in yield.
A premium service with high-added value
trucks transported on Shuttles in 2019
trucks, the new monthly traffic record in October 2019
express delivery parcels transported each day via the Channel Tunnel
Eurostar trains link the United-Kingdom to the continent via the Channel Tunnel and in particular Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam as well Disneyland Paris and other destinations in the South of France or in the Alps depending on the seasons.
New all-time traffic record in 2019 and new services
- All-time traffic record Eurostar, by exceeding 11 million passengers transported via the Channel Tunnel for the year
- New increase in traffic of +1% in 2019, despite strikes in the spring and in December
- Launch of a 3rd daily direct service between London and Amsterdam in June 2019, with journey times from London of 3 hours and 50 minutes to Amsterdam and 3 hours and 10 minutes to Rotterdam
- Launch of a return direct service between Amsterdam and London on 30 April 2020 with 2 trains per day and between Rotterdam and London on 18 May with a progressive increase in frequency until 2022
- Green Speed, the project to merge Eurostar and Thalys, which offers great opportunities for the development of eco-responsible traffic through the Channel Tunnel
- Eurostar also operates a direct service to Disneyland Paris and to Lyon, Avignon and Marseille during the spring and summer and a service to Bourg-Saint-Maurice in winter
- Project of new destinations such as Bordeaux and Genève or to Italia, Spain, Germany and Portugal.
A steady momentum in 2019
- New increase in cross-Channel rail freight traffic, up +3%
- Growth of the number of rail freight trains is linked to the positive effect of the ETICA (Eurotunnel Incentive for Capacity Additions), a Eurotunnel scheme which supports the start-up of new services
- The complete train scanner, operated by French Customs, enables the inspection of up to thirty 750m-long freight trains per day on the Fréthun yard.
- Crossing of the first Chinese container train to connect Yiwu and London, in January 2017, via the Silk Road and the Channel Tunnel.
Eurostar passengers travelled through the Channel Tunnel in 2019
rail freight trains through the Tunnel in 2019
Eurostar passengers have travelled through the Tunnel since 1994
An operational and commercial success
The traffic figures and the records consistently broken over the course of time have shown the resilience in all circumstances of the commercial services offered by Eurotunnel. And beyond, the Fixed Link has generated new traffic flows which have been made possible by the Tunnel since 1994:
- More than 450 million passengers have travelled through the Channel Tunnel on board the Eurotunnel Shuttles and high-speed Eurosstar trains, the equivalent of three times the populations of the United Kingdom and France combined.
- Almost 430 million tonnes of goods have been carried through the Tunnel mainly on board the Eurotunnel Truck Shuttles but also on the freight trains of the Railway Operators.
- More than 90 million vehicles have been transported, of which 60 million cars, coaches, camper-vans and motorcycles by Le Shuttle and 30 million trucks by Le Shuttle Freight.
- Almost 3 million pets (dogs and cats) have travelled on board Le Shuttle since the opening of the service in February 2000.