15/04/2009

Protesting Fishermen Halt Channel Crossings

News that ferry operator P&O has cancelled all Dover to Calais crossings due to a blockade by French fishing boats has increased pressure on other cross channel traffic.

The blockade at the port of Calais is now said to be causing motorway disruption in Kent, police have said.

Fishing fleets have been stopping ships entering or leaving Calais, Boulogne, and Dunkirk since Tuesday, in a dispute over fishing quotas.

Services to Boulogne and Dunkirk have also been called off until further notice, P&O said.

The French Red Cross are said to be handing out thermal blankets to passengers who were in their cars, and are also setting up camp beds and sleeping tents in the Norfolkline building.

The French army had also arrived to deliver food rations, he added.

However, a P&O spokesman Chris Laming said blockades were lifted temporarily overnight, allowing the ferry operator to repatriate 3,000 passengers who were waiting on the quayside.

He said: "We got them all home by about two o'clock this morning, but at six o'clock, eight fishing boats went back into the port of Calais and the whole thing kicked off again."

(BMcC/KMcA)

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