Calais open but delays continue

ANGRY MyFerryLink workers have called off their three-day blockade of Calais port as they hold talks with Transport Minister Alain Vidalies this morning in a bid to save jobs threatened as DFDS takes over their ferries.

However, the move may only be temporary and P&O says that it has only one sailing every two hours from Dover to Calais. It advises passengers to delay a booking if possible or contact it to find an alternative.

Eurotunnel’s LeShuttle says its passenger services are operating to schedule with three departures an hour in both directions. Eurostar says services are running normally.

DFDS says its Dover-Calais service is still shut but while its Dover-Dunkirk service is open there are limited places available.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has called President Hollande to get action and Home Secretary Theresa May is holding talks in Paris with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve over the crisis, with thousands of illegal immigrants at Calais trying to board UK-bound vehicles in the disruption.

PM: I've called @fhollande on Calais & the need to stop illegal blockade & maintain port security. We'll continue working closely together.— UK Prime Minister (@Number10gov) July 1, 2015

P&O chief executive Helen Deeble has criticised both French and British governments for not acting to end the blockade and resolving the issue of MyFerryLink workers losing their jobs.

Carsten Jensen, head of DFDS Seaways in the UK, said: “We are deeply concerned that our customers are continuing to face long delays on their cross Channel journeys due to ongoing industrial action in Calais, which has closed that port. We’d like to apologise to all our passengers and freight customers caught up in this gruelling situation and appeal to the authorities in France to reopen the port of Calais as soon as possible to allow people to travel through it quickly and safely.

“Whilst we appreciate the hard work from the police and port authorities in Dover and France, and we are working closely with them to transport as many passengers as possible through the alternative port of Dunkirk, some 20 miles east of Calais, the reality is that this situation is simply not acceptable and must not be allowed to continue"

Administrators overseeing the affairs of the MyFerryLink workers’ cooperative Scop, which ran the ferries for Eurotunnel, have rejected an offer from DFDS to employ 202 of the 600 staff when it takes over the ferries Rodin and Berlioz. DFDS complained that the administrators refused to enter into talks about the offer.

Freight traffic is stacked up on both sides of the Channel and the Port of Dover has opened an information page on its website at http://www.doverport.co.uk/about/news/ongoing-industrial-action-at-port-of-calais-at-073/13026/

The Road Haulage Association says hauliers are being severely damaged by the disruption, with 5,000 vehicles queuing on the motorway approaches to Dover. It has published photos of a deserted Calais port with ferries sitting idly at quay – and hundreds of lorries stuck on the M26.

HGVs heading towards @leshuttle. It's moving but hundreds of drivers still face a very long wait. @RHARichardB pic.twitter.com/Vq2gkqCLAu— RHA News (@RHANews) June 30, 2015

Calais, closed and empty and the damage to the UK economy will be immense. We need swift action NOW. @RHARichardB pic.twitter.com/VtaPj7liP2— RHA News (@RHANews) June 30, 2015