New Dover-Calais Ferry Service Planned

On Monday, a French court put SeaFrance into liquidation, which meant 880 jobs were lost, and more than 100 of those were in Dover. However, now many of these jobs could be saved due to a new Dover-Calais ferry service being planned by DFDS Seaways and LD Lines.

The French court had earlier ruled that a bid from the two operators to take over SeaFrance was too low. The ferry lines said last month that they wouldn’t be submitting a new bid, which they blamed on trade union intransigence. However, after the court put the ailing French-owned operator into liquidation, the two companies have renewed their interest in providing a competitor to P&O Ferries in France.

DFDS Seaways and LD Lines say new interest in SeaFrance is to hire 300 of the workers that were made redundant. In a statement, the joint venture said they were in a unique position to offer several sustainable French jobs, including deploying ships with French flags. Therefore, they can confirm that they have continued pursuing opportunities to establish a new Dover-Calais route.

Their intention is to operate two vessels manned with French seafarers and flying the French flag. To open the new route and provide customers with an attractive service, they would hire about 300 workers and expect to be able to start recruiting them soon. DFDS Seaways passenger director Chris Newey says they are also looking at opportunities to be had elsewhere.

In the meantime, Eurotunnel has offered to purchase three ferries owned by SeaFrance that are now tied up in the Port of Calais. Their intention is to lease them to a cooperative of workers.

Dover District Council leader Councillor Paul Watkins is concerned that SeaFrance is letting 127 staff in East Kent go, as there are worries about the impact and effect it will have on local families. They would love to see another ferry operator help provide employment opportunities for residents who were made redundant due to the liquidation, he says. However, they are still concerned about reports that Eurotunnel isn’t ruling out a possible bid for the future, as this could have a big impact on fare prices and services in the cross channel market.

Dover and Deal MP Charlie Elphicke says that he believes the news of another Dover-Calais ferry route is great news. However, he thinks “it’s a crazy idea” that it will be flying a French flag and be operated by French workers. They have a lot of people in the UK who are keen to do a job, work hard and are flexible in the labour market. If they had these workers and a British flag, they would also pay less in taxes, and it would be great for Dover’s economy.