INTERNATIONAL NEWS

G erman national railway company Deutsche Bahn (DB) has been seeking to acquire majority stakes in port companies, moves that have been met with fierce resistance. The rail operator even offered terminal operator Hamburger Hafen-und Logistik AG to transfer DB headquarters from Berlin to Hamburg – a deal which has so far been rejected. The rail company has attempted to take a stake in the port of Duisburg, Europe’s largest inland port and a huge freight transport hub with a pan-European significance, particularly for intermodal transport, maritime containers and overland transport. The carrot that DB offered in this particular case was the concentration of all of its freight transport subsidiaries and divisions in Duisburg (i.e. Railion, Schenker, DB Logistik, Stinnes Intermodal und Stinnes Freight Logistics). One third of the port of Duisburg belongs to the town of Duisburg, another third to the federal state of North Rhine- Westphalia and the remainder to the German state. Berlin is rumoured to want to dispose of its one-third share, but North Rhine-Westphalia and Duisburg’s plans are not yet known. The Bremen-based terminal operator Eurogate has also been targeted by DB. Hartmut Mehdorn, head of the railway company, cites the need for access to ports to complete the transport chain but Deutsche Bahn does not just want to take a stake, it wants the majority – 51 per cent or nothing. DB wants to operate ship, rail and road options in the ports and handle facilities themselves – to the disadvantage of all other port service companies. Mehdorn has also ruled out complying with EU rail directives which demand the break-up of the company and the separation of infrastructure and train operations. “An integrated railway is absolutely essential to ensure continuing technological development of the wheel/rail system," he said. RMTnews :: july/august 2006 :: www.rmt.org.uk 30 Asian Development Bank vice- president C Lawrence Greenwood recently addressed a meeting in Manila warning that full divestiture (privatisation) of rail assets may not be feasible or desirable, given railway's role as a public good. “Even mature economies such as the United Kingdom have found full divestiture to have substantial risks and unintended negative consequences,” he said. British Rail was privatised on the basis of EU directives which are now being rolled out across the European Union. However, Estonia has recently partially re-nationalised its rail network, a move praised by Mr Greenwood. “In Estonia, for example, the government maintained a minority share in a new railway company while retaining regulatory oversight for safety and monopolistic abuse,” he said. A nglo-French tunnel operator Eurotunnel has been holding last ditch talks to stave off bankruptcy. The group sought protection from French courts with the French equivalent of US "Chapter 11" bankruptcy protection, which allows firms to continue to operate. If approved by the courts, the "Procedure de Sauvegarde" would give Eurotunnel a six- month window of protection from creditors while a court- appointed administrator restructured the company's debts. The company agreed a preliminary restructuring plan with its priority lenders and Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Axa and Macquarie back in May, which would see Eurotunnel's debt cut by more than 50 percent to £2.9 billion. They have given Eurotunnel a waiver to allow it to have talks with a group of bondholders who have rejected the deal. If an agreement is reached, Eurotunnel has said it will withdraw its application for court protection. But if it fails, Eurotunnel chief Jacques Gounon has threatened to put the group into insolvency. The bondholders are the lowest-ranked debt holders, who would be very unlikely to get any of their money back if Eurotunnel is declared insolvent. They have complained that they are being offered too little money to allow the restructuring to go ahead, and are seeking a different deal which would leave them with cash and shares in the company. The crisis at Eurotunnel has its origins in the construction of the channel tunnel, completed in 1994 at a cost of about £10 billion. Traffic has never been nearly as heavy as was originally forecast, hitting Eurotunnel's revenues. EUROTUNNEL FACES BANKRUPTCY ASIAN BANKER WARNS AGAINST RAIL PRIVATISATION DEUTSCHE BAHN SEEKING PORTS INTERNATIONAL NEWS BANKRUPT?: Eurotunnel workers’ demonstrating outside last year’s annual meeting in Coquelles, northern France. Placards read "Our Lives Are Not For Sale", left, and "No to the Death of Employment".