Protesting French seamen ended their blockade of the northern port of Calais in the early hours of Monday, after stranding thousands of cross-Channel ferry passengers on a busy bank holiday weekend in Britain.
Sailors from the bankrupt firm Scop SeaFrance who had used lifeboats to block the busy hub on Sunday will now hold talks with government officials, a senior union official told AFP.
"I lifted the blockade because the prefect (of the Pas-de-Calais region) allowed us to unload equipment belonging to SeaFrance," Eric Vercoutre told AFP, adding that sailors would now hold talks with government officials.
Local authorities and ferry companies P&O and DFDS, which saw thousands of their customers delayed by the blockade -- some stranded on the boats themselves -- confirmed the action had ended.
Sea traffic was stopped at the harbour from around 07:30 pm (1730 GMT) "for security reasons" when two boats, which Vercoutre said contained some 25 sailors, took to the port's waters.
The ferry route from Dover in England to Calais is one of the busiest in Europe but was particularly jam packed with British holidaymakers using it to get to the Continent by car due to the long weekend.
Scop SeaFrance workers have for months been protesting against plans to sell off some of their ferries to DFDS, a move that had led to fears of hundreds of job losses.
The latest action by the seamen comes on the eve of a meeting on a deal aimed at resolving the dispute, under which up to 407 of the 487 sailors would keep their jobs.
Calais has also recently been the scene of a cat-and-mouse game between police and hundreds of migrants trying to smuggle themselves into Britain via the undersea Channel Tunnel that links the two countries.
On Monday, Prime Minister Manuel Valls is to travel to Calais along with two EU commissioners to discuss the migrants issue.
P&O on Sunday was forced to reroute boats carrying thousands of people to the French port of Boulogne-sur-Mer while Danish firm DFDS sent its ferries to Dunkirk, further north along the French coast.
P&O earlier said one of its its ferries had been left stuck in the port with 2,000 passengers onboard, and two others carrying 1,700 and 1,500 people were "waiting off Calais to be able to enter" the port.
A fourth vessel carrying 900 people was left stuck in Dover, she said, noting that the protest was taking place on one of the busiest weekends of the year for British holiday traffic.
A spokesman for the Port of Dover earlier said authorities there were monitoring the situation and hoped "to resume normal operations as soon as possible".
In July, striking ferry workers blocked Calais for three consecutive days, causing havoc with cross-Channel sailings and huge tailbacks on roads in the region.
The action earlier in the month also sparked cancellations on the Eurostar train service between France and Britain.
AFP
Mon Aug 31 2015
Protesting French seamen have ended their blockade of the northern port of Calais, after stranding thousands of cross-Channel ferry passengers on a busy bank holiday weekend in Britain. - AFP Photo
Bing kini digunakan lebih 140 juta pengguna setiap hari
Selain Bing, aplikasi Copilot untuk iOS dan Android juga memperlihatkan peningkatan kadar muat turun dari hari ke hari.
Rebel: Tak adil kalau tak tengok, dengar komen orang dari luar saja - Awie
Awie memberitahu kisah perjuangan berkaitan kumpulan pertubuhan yang cuba diketengahkan itu sudah lama ada di dalam masyarakat, cuma tidak diketahui saja pergerakannya.
Nahas helikopter: Kementerian pertahanan, ATM aktifkan Tabung Tragedi Lumut 24
Kementerian Pertahanan dan Angkatan Tentera Malaysia menubuhkan tabung khas 'Tabung Tragedi Lumut 24' bagi orang ramai menghulurkan bantuan kewangan.
Blok Negara Islam Sedang ‘Stress’? Langsung Dialog 4 Menteri Luar – Arab Saudi, Turkiye, Jordan dan Mesir
Situasi meruncing di Gaza, konflik Iran-Israel dan ditambah pula persaingan kuat dua kuasa, Amerika Syarikat dan China dilihat terus membayangi percaturan geopolitik dan geoekonomi negara-negara Islam di Asia Barat. Menteri Luar Turkiye dan Arab Saudi antara yang tampil duduk sepentas
membincangkan apa lagi yang bakal jadi nanti.
#SpecialMeeting24
membincangkan apa lagi yang bakal jadi nanti.
#SpecialMeeting24
Tiada bukti kaitkan guru dengan kes pedofilia di MRSM Tumpat - Polis
Tiada bukti dapat dikaitkan dengan seorang guru berhubung dakwaan berlaku kes pedofilia di Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) Tumpat.
Polis tahan pasangan kekasih, rampas pistol dan dadah bernilai RM4.73 juta
Polis menahan sepasang kekasih dipercayai terlibat kegiatan pengedaran dadah di sekitar Lembah Klang dan merampas pelbagai jenis dadah bernilai RM4.73 juta dalam serbuan di sebuah kondominium di Pucho
Suami kongsi gambar nikah, netizen beri kata-kata semangat buat Irma Hasmie
Perkongsian Redza menimbulkan respons yang pelbagai dalam kalangan netizen. Beberapa peminat turut dilihat memberikan kata-kata semangat kepada Irma.
Kotak hitam helikopter mendarat cemas di Pulau Angsa dihantar ke Itali
Kotak hitam helikopter AW139 milik Maritim Malaysia yang melakukan pendaratan cemas di sekitar perairan Pulau Angsa, Kuala Selangor telah dihantar ke Itali.
Leftenan Muda Min Youn satu-satunya penuntut bangsa Cina tamat latihan Komando
Leftenan Muda Chan Ming Youn dari Batalion Kedua Rejimen Renjer Diraja menjadi satu-satunya penuntut berbangsa cina yang berjaya menamatkan Kursus Asas Komando Gerup Gerak Khas (GGK) baru-baru ini.
Kawalan sempadan dipertingkat di sempadan Malaysia-Thailand
Polis Kelantan memantau perkembangan kejadian letupan dan insiden tembak menembak di Sungai Golok awal pagi Isnin dengan meningkatkan kawalan keselamatan di sempadan negara.