Myferrylink Sailors refuse the sale of two of their ships to their competitor DFDS …
The situation remains tense in the port of Calais, still controlled on Wednesday morning by sailors of Scop SeaFrance, which operate the cross-Channel link for Myferrylink company.
“The port is still blocked,” told a source at the port to AFP. The Consequence is that the traffic information center still felt significant disruption on the A16 motorway, blocked by heavy goods vehicles waiting.
Up to 5 hour wait for trucks
The authorities always advise travellers to postpone their arrival in the region of Dunkirk and Calais.
For its part, Eurostar and Eurotunnel reported a return to normal service through the Channel to England.
Nous avons repris un service normal aujourd’hui. Si vous voyagez, nous vous conseillons d’arriver au moins 45 minutes en avance.
— Eurostar France (@eurostarfr) July 1, 2015
Eurotunnel, however, advises drivers to arrive up to 5 hours before the departure of rail shuttles to record their cargo on time.
Violent Actions
This blockage, which started on Monday, follows the refusal on that day of the Commercial Court of Boulogne-sur-Mer to grant additional time to SCOP, while charter contracts of their ships shall end on Wednesday night.
A general meeting of sailors in the Scop will take place at about 10:30 to decide on what further actions will be taken in the aftermath of a day during which they carried out violent actions and blocking, besides the port of Calais and at The Channel Tunnel and the access to the port terminal of Loon-Plage, near Dunkirk.
No operating reprieve
Eurotunnel announced last week it had signed with the Danish carrier DFDS a lease with a purchase option in 2017, two of their three ships (the Rodin and Berlioz) beginning July 2.
The directors of the Scop SeaFrance felt that the notice regarding charter contracts was too short and demanded more time, but they suffered on Monday with a refusal of the court.
On Wednesday, the Danish shipping company DFDS Seaways announced that they are to keep 202 of the 600 employees of SeaFrance SCOP in its proposed takeover of two of the three boats from Myferrylink. The third, employing 120 people, would be retained by Eurotunnel freight transport.
