Seafrance

[laurie]

I see that Seafrance have suspended all operations from 04.00 today, 15 November.According to their statement the suspesion will last for 48 hours and is pending the decision of the Court of Commerce on 16 November

Laurie

[laurie]

I see the PLA website has P&Os European Seaway , presently laid up in Tilbury, is due to sail for Dover tomorrow evening.

Laurie

[BobS]

EUROPEAN SEAWAY's return to service is connected with the delayed delivery, due to technical problems, of the second 'jumbo' ferry SPIRIT OF FRANCE and the subsequent shortfall of open deck capacity for trucks carrying dangerous goods, which wil be further aggravated by the absence of SeaFrance's SEAFRANCE NORD PAS DE CALAIS.
DG-carrying trucks are not allowed through the Channel Tunnel.

[Ship's Cat]

According to a report on the BBC, Seafrance services are set to resume after a french court rejected a

[John Jones]

SeaFrance lost EUR 240m last year.
The company is now in official judicial liquidation after the European Commission ruled that an injection of EUR 200m ($269m) from its owner, French state railway SNCF, would be illegal.
New offers to buy the operation must be lodged by 12 December.
Two bids are already on the table: one from a DFDS/LD Lines consortium, which has offered EUR 5m, and an employee cooperative that has offered a symbolic EUR 1.
DFDS and LD Lines would keep three of the four SeaFrance vessels, but chop 400 jobs.
Seafrance suspended sailings as it feared a sit-in if the DFDS/LD Lines offer had been accepted.
It would seem unlikely that the workers' cooperative bid will be accepted either.

Best Regards
John J.

[Kai R]

it seems the offer from DFDS/LD was refused after a protest by P&O because the price for the assets would have been to low. DFDS/LD now have time to improve their bid.