New joint Dover to Calais service planned
January 10, 2012
DFDS and French partner LD Lines are planning to launch a new ferry service between Calais and Dover following the demise of SeaFrance.
And the two are looking to hire around 300 SeaFrance workers, cast adrift after the liquidation of the SNCF-owned cross-Channel operator yesterday by the commercial court of Paris.
A spokesman for the Danish group confirmed to IFW that the service would be operated by a joint-venture company, 82% controlled by DFDS.
A spokesman said: “The new route will be operated by two vessels owned by the DFDS-LD Lines joint-venture or by vessels available on the market.
“These ships will sail under the French flag and by manned by French seafarers.
“However, it is too early to talk about a launch date and frequencies, as there are a number of issues to be clarified.”
He added: “DFDS already operates a Dunkirk-Dover route and we consider it to be good business logic to launch a Calais-Dover service too.”
DFD-LD Lines had submitted a bid for some of SeaFrance’s assets last month, but the offer was rejected by the court.
Today, Nathalie Koscisuko-Morizet, who heads France’s super ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development and Transport, will be in Calais to discuss the offers from DFDS/LDA, Eurotunnel and a co-operative for the re-launch of a Calais-Dover service with SeaFrance’s staff unions, non-unionised workers and the town’s mayor.
And later today, a liquidator appointed by the commercial court of Paris will hold a press conference at which he will set out the process for the dismantling of SeaFrance.
Meanwhile, SNCF has announced the payment of a redundancy package to SeaFrance’s permanent workforce totalling €36 million.
SNCF also announced the immediate setting-up of a unit to oversee the transfer and recruitment of redundant SeaFrance staff wishing to take up new posts within the French railways group. Courtesy of IFW
