Eurotunnel changes name to Getlink after 23 years

Eurotunnel, which has operated the Channel Tunnel for 23 years, has changed its name to Getlink in a bid to highlight other strands of its business.

“Getlink is all that is Eurotunnel and more than just Eurotunnel,” said the French company’s chairman and chief executive Jacques Gounon.

“Originally the promoter of the Channel Tunnel, itself an historic technological achievement, over the past 10 years the group has transformed and is now in perfect shape to take on the challenges of new forms of mobility.”

The name change only affects the company at group level, with customers still able to book through the Eurotunnel website and name.

However, the change has drawn comparisons with historic rebrands like the Post Office’s dalliance with the name Consignia, which was dropped less than a year later.

It may also be compared with the Sealink ferry, which disappeared in the mid-1990s shortly after the Channel Tunnel began operating. Getlink will lead four brands within the business, one of which will remain Eurotunnel, operating the Le Shuttle services.

Its other commercial arms include Europorte, the private rail freight operator in France, ElecLink, the future electrical connector between the UK and France, plus CIFFCO, the private European railway training centre.

The company transports more than 20 million passengers, 1.6 million trucks, 2.6 million cars, almost two billion tonne-kilometres of freight and, soon, also one gigawatt of electricity.

Mr Gounon added: “The core mission for Getlink is the development and management of safe, modern and environmentally friendly mobility infrastructures, a challenge taken up with success by the 3,300 employees serving more than 20 million passengers and thousands of businesses in the United Kingdom, France and across Europe.

“With revenues of over one billion euros, an operating margin of 50% and predictable cash flows up to 2086, Getlink has demonstrated the effectiveness and resilience of its economic model.

“It is on this same basis that we will continue to generate growth by offering our customers high value-added solutions.”

Picture: Ady Kerry Chief executive Jacques Gounon has welcomed the new name for Eurotunnel