P&O tries to stop French port blockades

PARIS -- A protest by French fishermen that has wrought havoc on transport on both sides of the English Channel has gathered momentum, with taxi drivers adding their weight to the blockade and other industry sectors threatening to follow.

Fishermen angry about the soaring cost of fuel shut down the huge port of Marseille on Wednesday and announced that the bustling port of Le Havre in north-western France would be blockaded from midnight and through Thursday.

English Channel ferry traffic was all but paralysed, with Dunkirk, Boulogne, St Malo, Calais and the largest fishing port of Boulogne also blocked on the third straight day of protests.

In the Atlantic coastal region of Brittany, fishermen dumped several tons of fish at administrative offices in Quimper.

In France the port authority of Marseille denounced the fishermen’s action as "hostage-taking", while in Britain the ferry company P&O Stena launched a legal action against the fishermen.

The cross-Channel ferry operator sought an injunction in a court in Boulogne to force the fishermen to drop their blockade that has left thousands of holidaymakers stranded and disrupted freight transportation schedules.

"This kind of legal action has been successful in the past, so we are just hoping that we will get the injunction and be able to move the fishermen on," she said. "Even if we are successful the injunction would have to be served on the fishermen individually, and that would take at least 24 hours," she said.

A spokesman for rival operator Brittany Ferries said: "Our company alone (had) over 3,000 passengers due to travel from France today. Altogether a huge number of returning holidaymakers will be affected.

About 800 trucks about to board a ferry at Calais were forced to seek alternative routes, heading to the Belgian ports of Ostende and Zebrugge, according to Calais port officials.

"Catastrophic" fuel prices

The head of the National Committee of Maritime Fishermen, Alain Parres, in a meeting on Wednesday with Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany, said the price of fuel was throwing French fishing into a "catastrophic situation."

A delegation of protesting fishermen was to meet with Glavany Thursday in Paris following a demonstration.

The National Federation of Truck Drivers (FNAT) is due to meet on Thursday to decide its own plan of action. It added that drivers in Paris would form a convoy on Friday and then present a list of demands to the government.

The price of diesel has almost tripled in the last 18 months, going from about 80 centimes (11 U.S. cents) per litre in January 1999 to about 2.10 francs (29 U.S. cents).

Fishermen want state aid to stabilise the diesel price at 1.20 francs per litre (16 U.S. cents) and have rejected a government proposition to prolong a 50-percent cut in social security contributions until the end of the year.

Finance Minister Laurent Fabius was likely to announce a cut in fuel tax on Thursday as part of what he said would be a programme of "ample" cuts. However, fuel for fishermen is not taxed at all.

A farmers’ union on Wednesday asked that the government stop taxing all fuel-related products.

"The soaring price of fuel has already cost farmers more than a billion francs (about $143 million) ... and the bill risks getting bigger before the end of the year."

Lengthy tail-backs were reported at British ports on Wednesday night, with Kent police saying there were queues of traffic about five miles (nine kilometres) long on the motorway approaching the port of Dover.

There was also congestion at the Eurotunnel terminal near Dover as travellers gave up hope of catching a ferry across the Channel and headed for the tunnel.

A Eurotunnel spokeswoman said private passengers were leaving on time, but freight traffic faced a wait of up to three hours because of long queues.

There were no reports of problems at the other major Channel ports of Folkestone, Portsmouth and Plymouth.

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