Ongoing industrial action in France plus an early Easter led to a slump in Le Shuttle passenger traffic last month.
The number of tourist vehicles, including cars, coaches and camper vans, carried through the Channel Tunnel fell by 9% year-on-year to 221,654, according to parent company Eurotunnel.
The company said traffic had been “doubly penalised as a result of the situation in France”.
This “is having a negative impact on the country’s attraction to tourists, and the calendar effect which saw the Easter holiday departures falling in the month of March in 2018”.
Almost 720,000 passenger vehicles have travelled by Le Shuttle since the start of the year.