Dock strikes will not affect ferries

The dockers’ strike at France’s biggest commercial ports on Wednesday will not affect ferry services, a union official confirmed.

Workers at the cargo terminals of Le Havre, Nantes, Rouen and Marseille will down tools for the day to protest planned outsourcing of heavy machinery operations.

Some workers including crane operators have been blocking activity since last Thursday.

All cargo at Marseille has been blocked since Thursday.

A CGT Union spokesman confirmed a general strike would come into effect on Wednesday, but said this would not affect passenger services.

He said: “This is totally unrelated. The issue is with the commercial dock operations.

“We do not want to drag ferry passengers into this. It has nothing to do with ferries.”

The day of strikes coincides with government debates on Wednesday on the possible privatisation of France’s commercial ports.

Photo: Wikipedia