MaritimeNews ® 08-Июл-2015 15:04

Strikes in the French Port of Calais have cost the UK around GBP 1 billion (USD 1.5 billion), as indicated by the latest data from the Port of Dover.
The port town has been entrapped in a total mayhem over the past two weeks since MyFerryLink workers went on strike. MyFerryLink workers blocked the sea and road entrances to the port as they feared of losing their jobs after the company’s ferries were sold to DFDS.
In addition, all ferry services have been cancelled between Calais and UK’s Dover, one of Europe’s busiest ferry ports handling GBP 100bn of trade.
“If anyone was still under the impression that the Port of Dover was a quaint little port on the south east corner of the UK doing ferry trips for holidaymakers or booze cruisers to France, then the past two weeks of disruption have surely shattered that illusion,” the Chief Executive of the Port of Dover, Tim Waggott, said in an open letter.
“In just four days of concerted disruption in Calais, such action has already cost the UK economy an estimated one billion pounds,” he added.
According to Waggott, the UK Government must now look at turning its focus away from the immediate implications of a £1 billion strike to ensuring a £100 billion trade route can do its job 24/7; unimpeded by others for the long term.
“The Port of Dover handles 13 million passengers each year.  That is the equivalent of more than the UK’s fifth busiest airport – Luton.  Would we allow the majority of services from one of our major airports to be curtailed for several days during the summer because of a few militant French workers?  Of course not.  So why do we allow it to happen to an equivalent passenger hub at Dover that also handles £100 billion of the nation’s trade at the same time on a core EU transport corridor?,” he added.
The strike has resulted in mutual accusations and shifting of blame between he french and the British, with the UK Chamber of Shipping described the ongoing action as “an act of sabotage upon both the UK and French economies,” whereas the Mayor of Calais said Britain had a ‘crushing’ responsibility for recent issues in Calais, both with MyFerryLink and with migrants.
In the latest turn of events, Copenhagen-based shipping and logistics company DFDS said that its offer to the administrators of the MyFerryLink co-operative known as SCOP Seafrance for the acquisition of a part of SCOP Seafrance including 202 staff had been rejected.
The offer was given following discussions with all stakeholders including the French Minister of Transport, on June 25 2015, DFDS said.
This would have allowed DFDS to operate a 3rd vessel between Dover and Calais.
 
World Maritime News Staff
-Source: worldmaritimenews.com
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