Although the Channel Tunnel was designed to carry about 10m tonnes of freight per year, shippers have proved reluctant to use it. Most lorries still travel on the cross-Channel ferries, although the number of truck shuttles on Eurotunnel did increase from 2007 to 2008. However, the rail freight facility of the Tunnel is very much under-used; shippers say that costs compare unfavourably with road freight, but Eurotunnel argues that big shippers need to use the rail freight service in order for the price to come down. The situation was not helped by a series of strikes in France which meant that no rail freight ran through the Tunnel for two weeks in May.