Major French trade union, the Confederation Francaise Des Travailleurs (CFDT), has announced it will submit a takeover bid for the troubled cross-Channel ferry company SeaFrance, which has been quasi-bankruptcy for more than a year, Shipping Online reported.
SeaFrance operates a short-sea passenger and freight route between Dover and Calais deploying three vehicle ferries and one ro-ro ship.
After an extension of the July 26 bidding deadline, SeaFrance adjourned a company works council at which the joint takeover bid filed by Paris-based Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Group (LDA) and Copenhagen-based Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab (DFDS) reported London's International Freighting Weekly, adding that a new deadline date has yet to be set.
DFDS, which would take the largest share, is northern Europe's largest integrated shipping and logistics company, operating a network of 25 routes with 50 freight and passenger ships, also providing freight solutions in Europe with trailers, containers and rail. It is jointly bidding with LDA, a leading global provider of dry bulk shipping with a fleet of 30 bulkers, floating cranes, tugs and barges, and specialised port services.
CFDT's bid focuses on the creation of a Societe Co-operative Ouvriere de Production (SCOP), a co-operative, that would own and manage the company. CFDT is being advised by consulting firm Diagoris.
Many suspect CFDT's bid is intended to thwart the LDA-DFDS which reportedly wants to break-up SeaFrance. But the union denies this motive, saying its delayed bid is the result of a refusal to provide it documents that a court order has since ruled must be made available to it.
SeaFrance operates a short-sea passenger and freight route between Dover and Calais deploying three vehicle ferries and one ro-ro ship.
After an extension of the July 26 bidding deadline, SeaFrance adjourned a company works council at which the joint takeover bid filed by Paris-based Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Group (LDA) and Copenhagen-based Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab (DFDS) reported London's International Freighting Weekly, adding that a new deadline date has yet to be set.
DFDS, which would take the largest share, is northern Europe's largest integrated shipping and logistics company, operating a network of 25 routes with 50 freight and passenger ships, also providing freight solutions in Europe with trailers, containers and rail. It is jointly bidding with LDA, a leading global provider of dry bulk shipping with a fleet of 30 bulkers, floating cranes, tugs and barges, and specialised port services.
CFDT's bid focuses on the creation of a Societe Co-operative Ouvriere de Production (SCOP), a co-operative, that would own and manage the company. CFDT is being advised by consulting firm Diagoris.
Many suspect CFDT's bid is intended to thwart the LDA-DFDS which reportedly wants to break-up SeaFrance. But the union denies this motive, saying its delayed bid is the result of a refusal to provide it documents that a court order has since ruled must be made available to it.