A decrease of 19% has been witnessed in the total number of goods vehicles travelling from Great Britain to mainland Europe through the Channel Tunnel in the first quarter of 2009 as compared to same quarter last year.

According to Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel, the drop is due to a fire in the tunnel on 12 September 2008 that reduced capacity, which was then restored by the second week of February 2009.

However, figures released by the Department for Transport suggested that the fire is not the reason for the drop as traffic that usually travelled through the tunnel picked up on the Dover to Calais route.

Of the total 576,000 vehicles that traveled to mainland Europe, a fall of 18% was seen for powered vehicles while unaccompanied trailers going to Europe experienced a 22% drop.

The year ending the first quarter of 2009 has seen a decline of 9% in goods vehicles travelling from Great Britain to mainland Europe as compared to the same period in 2008.