Court rejects SeaFrance rescue plan

A French court has rejected the latest attempt to save ferry company SeaFrance from collapse, and the firm has gone into liquidation.

An offer by a group of SeaFrance employees to buy the company was not acceptable, the court ruled.

Yesterday (8 January), EuroTunnel, the company that operates the Channel Tunnel, said it would back the workers’ bid. But the Tribunal de Commerce ruled that the business plan devised by the unions, which would have entailed state-aid, was not financially viable.

The main union at SeaFrance, CFDT Maritime Nord, had refused to accept alternative arrangements for a buy-out proposed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week.

Sarkozy, who has said that saving the jobs of SeaFrance’s nearly 900 employees was his “duty” as president, said today that he has “noted the decision of the court to liquidate and dissolve this company”. He said French officials will tomorrow meet staff representatives and the administrator to discuss the situation.

In October, the European Commission ruled that a proposed €100 million loan by France’s national railway operator SNCF would break state-aid rules. SNCF owns SeaFrance.

SeaFrance ferry crossings have been suspended since November. The company has been in financial difficulties since 1996, hit by increased competition and allegations of smuggling. SeaFrance was the last French company operating cross-channel ferries.