The Competition Commission has delayed its decision on whether Eurotunnel’s ownership of MyFerryLink breaks competition rules.

The organisation will now make its final decision in early May, with provisional findings due to be published in the middle of March.

In January, it decided to look again at whether the Folkestone-based Channel Tunnel operator gained too much of the cross-Channel ferry market after buying three former SeaFrance vessels.

MyFerryLink earned €74m (£60.5m) last year, a dramatic increase from €7m (£5.7m) in 2012, even considering it only launched the service in August of that year.

The new venture was made possible after Eurotunnel bought three ferries from SeaFrance after the company went into administration in April 2012.

In its original ruling in June - which was overturned in December by the Competition Appeal Tribunal - the Competition Commission’s deputy chairman Alasdair Smith said: “It cannot be good for competition when Eurotunnel, which already holds a market share of over 40%, moves into the ferry business.”