EUROTUNNEL is expected to reveal a significant drop in its traffic last year, a fall that may hasten a renegotiation of its £6 billion debt mountain.

The operator of the Channel tunnel will publish figures for 2004 on Tuesday. Industry sources said all-important traffic on its freight shuttles — Eurotunnel trains that carry lorries between France and England — was likely to have fallen by 4% or more, in line with the company’s third-quarter figures released in October.

Eurotunnel’s management, installed after a shareholder coup in April, is likely to blame the company’s previous regime for the drop in traffic. In January, the new executive team, led by Jean-Louis Raymond, introduced a new pricing structure that gives lower prices to haulage firms that provide the company with 12-month forecasts of demand.

Last month The Sunday Times revealed that some truck companies were unhappy with the change and were threatening to withdraw their business.

Eurotunnel is close to opening formal negotiations with its banks and bondholders on a restructuring of its crippling debts. The company needs its debtors to sign a waiver agreement that will allow it to start talks without being in default on its loans.

Eurotunnel said yesterday that discussions with the banks were continuing. City sources said that the company was unlikely to ask for the waiver unless it knew it would be approved, although agreement with the company’s myriad debtors could take a month or more to secure.