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Brittany Ferries sues DFDS for £125m for losses caused by market distortion on Newhaven-Dieppe ferry route.
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President Jean-Marc Roué
Brittany Ferries launched legal action against Danish shipping company DFDS this week (19 March). The Portsmouth-based operator says grants DFDS receives to run the loss-making Dieppe – Newhaven ferry route has cost its business £125m since 2013. In an action lodged with the Brest Commercial Court, it is seeking to recover significant losses that come from this unfair competition.
“Subsidies granted by the Syndicat mixte transmanche (SMPAT) in Normandie allow DFDS to levy artificially low fares that are out of touch with economic reality,” said company president to Jean-Marc Roué“ in an interview with French newspaper Le Marin. “This draws a significant proportion of freight and passenger traffic to the Newhaven-Dieppe route, to the detriment of Brittany Ferries.”
Roué slammed overcompensation operating costs for DFDS, calling it a “waste of public money”, and pointed out that the Normandy Regional Audit Office itself has criticised the system on two occasions, without any change in SMPAT’s policy.
The next hearing has been set for 6 June in Brest. In addition to civil action, Brittany Ferries has lodged a complaint at European leave with the EU Directorate-General for Competition.
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Le Marin article – EN translation follows
Brittany Ferries sues DFDS for market distortion on Dieppe – Newhaven route
20/05/2025 09:53
Brittany Ferries is taking Danish shipping company DFDS to court over the aid it receives for the public service delegation (contract) to run the Dieppe – Newhaven route. It estimates losses of more than €150 million.
The dispute between Brittany Ferries and DFDS has reached a new level. After losing its appeal in April against the award of a contract to serve the Isle of Jersey to DFDS, Brittany ferries is now taking the Danish shipowner to court over the “public service delegation” contract for the Dieppe – Newhaven route.
Two complaints have been lodged. One with the Brest Commercial Court and the other at European level with the EU Directorate-General for Competition.
Brittany Ferries cites the payment of public monies to DFDS over the past 12 years which unfairly subsidise the Dieppe – Newhaven route.
According to Jean-Marc Roué, the company’s chairman, ‘these subsidies granted by the Syndicat mixte transmanche (SMPAT) allow DFDS to levy artificially low fares that are out of touch with economic reality. This draws a significant proportion of traffic on Newhaven-Dieppe the detriment of Brittany Ferries’ Normandy routes.”
He estimates losses at more than 150 million euros since 2013, due to the loss of passenger and freight volumes caused by this market distortion.
Questioning the subsidies awarded to DFDS Jean-Marc Roué also points out that, during the last call for tenders to run the route – won by DFDS in 2022 – ‘Brittany Ferries proposed an operation with a subsidy that was 50% lower than that requested by DFDS, but our bid was not accepted’.
He slammed ‘overcompensation of operating costs’ for DFDS, a ‘waste of public money’, and pointed out that the Normandy Regional Audit Office itself has criticised the system on several occasions, without any change in SMPAT’s policy’.
He also pointed to, “new environmental taxes (ETS, decarbonised fuel, etc.), which weigh heavily on our own business and force us to invest in decarbonisation, but which are in fact offset for DFDS by the unfair subsidies they receive.”
In his view, this situation further exacerbates the competitive disadvantage, because DFDS would have no need to invest, or to pass on these additional costs in its tariffs.
Jean-Marc Roué also criticised the fact that ‘the SMPAT continues to award subsidies on the basis of criteria that do not seek the most cost-effective option economic, preferring instead a more expensive offer when cheaper alternatives exist’.
When contacted, DFDS France stated that it was ‘in the process of reviewing the case with [its] lawyers and reserving [its] responses for the courts’.
The next hearing has been set for 6 June at the Commercial Court, but the case is likely to take several months to reach a definitive verdict, and probably longer at European level.
Jean-Marc LE DROFF.