SeaFrance

SeaFrance Rodin in the port of Calais (2008)

Arrival of the SeaFrance Cézanne in Calais

SeaFrance was the name of a French shipping company that operated a Calais - Dover ferry service to cross the English Channel from 1996 to 2011 .

The shipping company was a 100% subsidiary of the French railway company SNCF . With 1700 employees, it was the largest employer in the city of Calais . According to its own information, it carried out up to 46 crossings a day with six ships.

On January 9, 2012, the commercial court in Paris ordered the liquidation of the company and the termination of its business activities.

history

SeaFrance began doing business between Dover and Calais in 1996 following the termination of a pooling agreement with Stena Sealink in 1995. The service began initially with two former Sealink vessels that SeaFrance was extensively refurbishing. The former Sealink rail ferries continued to operate as cargo ferries. Later another Stena Line ship joined the fleet.

SeaFrance quickly became the second largest operator on the Dover - Calais route after P&O Ferries and ahead of its former partner Stena Line. SeaFrance took over the first new ship in 2001, the SeaFrance Rodin , which was the fastest ferry on the Dover - Calais route. In 2005, the SeaFrance Berlioz, a sister ship, was put into service.

Restructuring

A strike against staff shortages blocked three ships in Calais at Easter 2010. A heavy blow for the financially troubled company that is in tough competition with P&O and Eurotunnel . A merger with Brittany Ferries already failed in 2009 . In September 2010 the unions refused to restructure because 400 jobs would have been lost. In October 2010 restructuring proceedings to avert bankruptcy were initiated, around 700 employees were laid off. Two SeaFrance ferries had been laid up in Dunkerque (Dunkirk) for some time , and a third was sold to Stena in the summer of 2010. On October 4, 2010, SNCF put SeaFrance up for sale in an advertisement in L'Echo newspaper .

On November 16, 2011, SeaFrance shut down to ensure the safety of passengers and crew (some employees were so embittered that they threatened to sink a ferry). The Paris Commercial Court had previously opened bankruptcy proceedings. The court found two takeover bids, one from the workforce and a second involving the Danish shipping company DFDS , to be insufficient. SeaFrance should be dissolved by January 28, 2012.

At the beginning of 2012, the French government had given up its opposition to the union's proposal that the workforce should take over the company through a cooperative, which is to be financed with their severance payments. The company was nevertheless liquidated.

In the summer of 2012, the ships Rodin , Berlioz and Nord Pas-de-Calais were auctioned along with some assets and infrastructure facilities. Eurotunnel was awarded the contract . Eurotunnel is chartering the ships to a cooperative of former SeaFrance employees who operated a new ferry connection between Dover and Calais under the name MyFerryLink until 2016. The traffic was opened on August 20, 2012 initially with Rodin and Berlioz , the Nord Pas-de-Calais was added on November 28, 2012 after a shipyard overhaul for freight traffic.

fleet

Passenger and cargo ferries

SeaFrance Renoir , built in 1981 (launched in Dunkirk in 2009,scrappedin Alang in2011)
SeaFrance Cézanne , built in 1980, rebuilt in 1990 (launched in Dunkirk in 2009, scrapped in Alang in 2011)
SeaFrance Rodin , manufactured in 2001
SeaFrance Molière , manufactured in 2002
SeaFrance Berlioz , manufactured in 2005
SeaFrance Manet , manufactured in 1984
Seafrance Monet , manufactured in 1974