Curse of the go-green revolution – crossing the Channel will cost more from January 2015

Come January 2015 and the cost of a return ticket from Dover to Calais would increase from £160 to £210 as a result of new EU green laws – this fare would be applicable for Britain’s biggest ferry operator, P&O Cruises.
Therefore, families who would take a ferry across the English Channel in the New Year would face this 30 per cent hike in ticket prices since the EU wants to herald in tough new green rules.
In the opinion of the UK Chamber of Shipping, this move of the EU could be the death knell for the ferry industry and that those routes that were teetering on the edge of economic viability would be pushed off the edge.
As per the new EU rules, shipping firms would have to switch over to expensive low- emission fuel and it is feared that this would push traffic on to the roads, drive up the cost of diesel for cars and result in the loss of 2,000 jobs.
Moreover, a European committee has warned that the fuel switch could give rise to other problems like engine breakdowns and fires and such happenings could leave the ferry boats minus power and at the mercy of the element, especially in busy shipping lanes.
Brussels has ordered that all ships in the English Channel, North Sea and Baltic Sea must act to reduce sulphur emissions from January 1.