The French competition watchdog has cleared Eurotunnel’s takeover of former SeaFrance operations.
The decision comes just weeks after the UK Office of Fair Trading referred the acquisition to the Competition Commission.
The OFT cited “concerns the merger could substantially reduce competition in the provision of cross-channel transport services”.
Eurotunnel paid €65 million for the three ferries – Berlioz, Rodin and Nord-Pas-de-Calais and started operating them in August under the MyFerryLink brand.
The largest cross-channel operator P&O Ferries, which opposed the deal, said it was not surprised by the decision by the French competition authority.
“The takeover always appeared to be politically expedient,” the company said.
P&O Ferries added: “We take comfort from the decision by the OFT to refer the deal to the UK Competition Commission and await their ruling in April 2013.
“Our understanding is that Eurotunnel would need the approval of both UK and French authorities to continue running the ferry service.”
Eurotunnel welcomed the French decision and told the Financial Times: “It confirms that there is no issue in terms of competition, validating the fact that both transportation offers, tunnel and ferry, have distinct and complementary strategies that benefit our consumers.”
But the French competition body cited concerns that the deal “was liable to pose competition problems in freight transport”.
It also said that Eurotunnel’s rail business could not discriminate against customers who did not use its ferry services.