Strike hits Calais ferry services
Dockworkers stage 24-hour walkout in protest at company’s decision to bring in private contractors to unload ship
FERRY services out of Calais have been disrupted after dockworkers at the port staged a 24-hour wildcat strike.
Anyone heading to the port today is being urged to contact their ferry operator before travelling.
A spokesman for P&O Ferries told the BBC that it was currently running a limited service on the Dover-Calais route and said: “We strongly recommend that if your travel is not essential that you rebook for an alternate date.”
The company says that check-in for tourists is open at Calais but motorists are unlikely to make it through the traffic jams building up on routes to the port on time for any sailings.
A busload of British schoolchildren and several lorries carrying livestock were among the many vehicles caught up in traffic delays caused by the strike.
The strike began when dock workers walked out in protest after private contractors were brought in by one company to unload a ship. Freight on both sides of the channel is said to be stacking up.
In England, Kent police are said to be making preparations for Operation Stack, when lorries are parked on the coast-bound M20 when the Channel Tunnel, English Channel or Dover port are shut to traffic.
Photo: Ben Sutherland
