French court orders SeaFrance to cease trading

10 Jan 2012 - Shipping

• French ferry firm officially liquidated

• French court rules government bailout as illegal

• DFDS & LD shipping lines already planning new Dover-Calais service

SeaFrance, the French ferry firm, was officially liquidated yesterday after a Paris court ruled that the company should no longer cease to exist.

The latest attempt to rescue SeaFrance was rejected by the Tribunal de Commerce after the European Commission declared a potential US$270 million bailout by the French government as unlawful.

The French court also dismissed an offer from SeaFrance employees to save the heavily indebted firm.

SeaFrance went into administration in 2010 after amassing losses close to US$325 million.

“SeaFrance is sad to announce that the Tribunal de Commerce in Paris has made the decision to liquidate the company,” announced a SeaFrance spokeswoman following the court order.

“Despite the best efforts of all parties, the court came to the difficult conclusion that none of the options available to it were financially viable.”

In November 2011, the company was forced to suspend its three ferry services operating between Calais and Dover until the future of the company was secured. The service carried more than 3.5 million passengers a year.

Yesterday’s news will now mean the service will be closed for good and will mean the loss of hundreds of SeaFrance jobs in both France and the United Kingdom.

SNCF, the owners of SeaFrance, announced today that they are putting together a redundancy package in the region of €36 million to compensate those permanently employed by the firm.

In addition, SNCF has also announced that it will establish a specialized unit to manage the transfer and recruitment of those made redundant by SeaFrance who would be willing to take up roles within the French railways group.

Following the collapse of SeaFrance competitors have already made moves to fill the gap in the fiercely competitive UK-France freight market, with DFDS Seaways and French partner Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LD) looking at launching a new Dover-Calais service.

According to the IFW, part of the plan includes recruiting as many as 300 hundred SeaFrance workers who have lost their jobs.

“The new route will be operated by two vessels owned by the DFDS-LD Lines joint-venture or by vessels available on the market,” a DFDS spokesman told IFW. “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. DFDS already operates a Dunkirk-Dover route and we consider it to be good business logic to launch a Calais-Dover service too.”

The spokesman added that the proposed service would be operated as a joint-venture company of which DFDS would hold an 82 percent controlling stake.