SeaFrance in recivership.

Started by Collision-course, December 14, 2009, 02:58:29 PM

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Collision-course

French state owned company Seafrance has begun judical administration after failing to agree a rescue deal with unions , the company only has funds available to continue operating until febuary and is expected to have cease trading and be liquidated by mid march 2010.
PIc Below from www.shipspotting.com

Kieran

Sad to see such a large operator go under...

Collision-course

A last minute agreement between managment and unions at Seafrance looks to have saved the company from liquidation , the unions agreed to the rescue deal a full 7 days after the deadline.
There will be 482 redundancies from the company and the possible sale of another ship bringing the company to a two ship operation , recapitalisation of the company by SNCF is expected in the new year , however the company's future is still unclear as large scale restructering is now likley to follow.

Collision-course

Just to update this thread , SeaFrance passed into full administration on November 16th with all services suspended , it is indended that services will resume shortly while new investment is sought , the French courts have set a deadline of December 12th for new investors to come forward , if no deal can be reached then SeaFrance will go into recievership and be liquidated.
Statement from SeaFrance;


The management of the company has today been placed under the control of the administrators.They have decided that commercial activities of the company will resume as soon as all the issues concerning safety and security are resolved.


We are conscious of the inconvenience this situation is causing and we apologise for this. We will keep you informed of any changes in the present situation.


Should you need any further information, Please contact us on +44 (0) 845 458 0666 to speak to a member of staff.

In the interm , P&O has reactivated the recently decommissioned European Seaways to cater for the increased demand brought on by the unexpected cancelation of all SeaFrance services.

larry

Thats a real shame, it doesnt sound promising at all, nothing is safe anywhere, would there be any chance that stena may buy this one out?

giftgrub

#5
Highly unlikely that Stena will be involved in this mess, DFDS/LD LINES had a bid for the company turned down as have the unions involved with Seafrance.

There are rumours of funding from regional authority's but the whole Seafrance issue is a bit crazy and has been going on for years.
http://www.lloydsll.com/freight-directory/local-council-ready-to-give-10-million-for-co-op-seafrance-bid/20017920706.htm;jsessionid=F55F4CA87979EC1E9496433DED4A6599.f11b1cefac76ad95c7627468fee9bde7e866d022

http://www.travelmole.com/stories/1150354.php

If the company does not recover from its current situation then :

The three vessels they have purpose built for the route (Rodin, Berlioz and the Nord Pas De Calais would more than likely be purchased by either P&O or DFDS or LD Lines in the event of winding up, The Moliere is a Superfast the same as the Stena Superfast VII & VIII which would be a highly sought after ship and is not suited to the much shorter channel route, but this also requires big investment to correct its internal layout as apparently Seafrance made a bit of mess of this when they refurbished the ship for day ferry use.

and to make things worse for the company, there are now grumblings about the two vessels sent to India for scrapping the Seafrance Renoir and Cezanne, Below text taken from FONE.

Environment organisations have today called on the French government to
repatriate two retired SeaFrance ferries which they claim were illegally
exported to India for demolition. Brussels-based NGO Shipbreaking Platform and
France’s Robin des Bois said the former SeaFrance Cezanne (renamed Western
Light) and the former SeaFrance Renoir (renamed Eastern Light) were exported
from Dunkirk on 7 October and 20 September respectively, without having been
fully decontaminated. In a letter to the French environment minister, Nathalie
Kosciusko-Morizet and European Union environment commissioner, Janez Potocnik,
the groups said the French Government has failed to respect the Basel Convention
on the movement and disposal of hazardous waste. The letter calls on French
authorities to urgently contact their Indian counterparts and prevent the
demolitions proceeding. The NGOs argued the two ro-ros were effectively owned by
the French state via SeaFrance’s owner, SNCF, and ferries should be taken an
OECD member country for demolition. The environment groups said there was a
precedent for repatriating ships destined for demolition, as five years ago the
French authorities brought French aircraft carrier Clemenceau back from India.

Source: Fairplay

Details on the two ferries involved are available here:

http://www.doverferryphotos.co.uk/pastandpresent/cezanne.htm

http://www.doverferryphotos.co.uk/pastandpresent/cote.htm

Plenty of discussion about this on another forum:
http://forums.bfenthusiasts.com/showthread.php?t=7460

larry

how do you get this info, this is great, id love to see the ships being halted from scrapping but if they were what would be their next step?

giftgrub

More info on the 2 former Seafrance vessels on page 5 of this link:

http://www.robindesbois.org/english/shipbreaking25.pdf

Also details of the former Stena Baltica (hull never finished for Stena, would have been sister ship of Stena Spirit & Stena Vision on Page 6, Celtic Links former Diplomat on Page 8 &9,  Info on the Pride of Telemark former Stena Jutlandica on page 9 and much more.

giftgrub

#8
Image of the Seafrance Cezanne on the beach in Alang alongside the former MF Lissos of ANEK lines (possibly)

I did not find this, it was posted on FONE earlier today by Chris Brindle.

I found this article on 20minutes.fr - There is a cracking image of the former
Seafrance Cezanne on the beach along with the usuals rants about enviromental
issues etc


CB

http://www.20minutes.fr/article/837076/deux-ex-navires-seafrance-inde

A former SeaFrance vessel spotted in India. That's two months since the association Robin Hood alerted the public about the dismantling operation of two former ships of the shipping company SeaFrance, a subsidiary of SNCF. Yesterday, it announced the arrival of a ship, the Cezanne, the demolition of the Bay of Alang, India. The Renoir had already arrived, according to the association.
In July, SeaFrance sold seven million euros, ferries Cezanne and Renoir to "shell companies in Panama," according to the association. "In a German shipowner," retorted the direction of SeaFrance which denied yesterday on France Bleu, knowing the fate of two ships. Robin Hood denounces "hypocrisy." "This kind of flexibility allows to circumvent the law, said Christine Bossart, of Robin Hood. These ships will be demolished in violation of worker safety and the environment. "For the Ministry of Ecology, rates of asbestos dust in the corridors of the Renoir does not exceed the alert thresholds. When contacted, the management of SeaFrance does not répondu.GD

giftgrub

Not looking good for the future of SeaFrance. Only the employees lodged a bid for the company, unfortunately they appear to lack the funds to complete the purchase.

If things don't improve there are going to be some interested bidder for their vessels.

http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/DFDS.CO/key-developments/article/2449159

DFDS A/S announced that since the decision of the commercial court of Paris to liquidate SeaFrance and set December 12, 2011 as a deadline for the submission of new bids, DFDS A/S and Louis Dreyfus Armateurs have conducted a process to enable the submission of a new offer. In the course of this process, DFDS A/S and Louis Dreyfus Armateurs have had a dialog with several of the involved parties, but it has not been possible to establish a dialog with the union representing the majority of SeaFrance's employees. As a consequence, DFDS A/S and Louis Dreyfus Armateurs have decided not to submit a revised bid.

Collision-course

It seems time has run out for SeaFrance , the company is expected to be liquidated in mid january with the loss of all 700 jobs , there have been no SeaFrance sailings for several weeks now.

A83

It looks like it might not be the end of the line for Seafrance. President Sarkozy this morning has convened a governmental meeting at which it has been decided to support the workers cooperative [Scop] to take over the business. That doesn't mean it is saved but there is some chance still.

larry

id like to see the company survive but theres a lot of legal issues in the background of this case, ive heard theyre being investigated over the scrapping of some of their ships or something, and we all know how expensive these legal things can get

giftgrub

Unfortunately Seafrance are gone

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-16469300

Ferry firm SeaFrance is to shed 127 jobs in Dover after it was liquidated by a French court and told to cease activity.

The Tribunal de Commerce decided SeaFrance's future after a bailout by the French government was ruled illegal by the European Commission.

The court also said an offer by a cooperative of employees was not acceptable.

Hundreds of jobs in France are also expected to be lost.

Three ferries were operated by SeaFrance on the Dover to Calais route. The service was suspended in November.

Conservative MP for Dover and Deal Charlie Elphicke said: "It is a real concern for the... people in Dover who have worked for SeaFrance and also their families.

"This is a difficult day and I think the heart of the whole community goes out to them.

Continue reading the main story
"
Start Quote

Everyone is working as hard as they can to ensure that jobs will be safeguarded"

Charlie Elphicke
"Obviously it's a real blow, [if] SeaFrance isn't operating that means there's less ferry traffic."

Sarkozy criticised
There were tears from SeaFrance workers who gathered outside the court in Paris to hear the decision on the firm's future.

Many were protesting over the handling of SeaFrance's fate, with one banner questioning why French president, Nikolas Sarkozy had not intervened to save the company.

Flares were lit in protest at the company's liquidation.

Eurotunnel has not ruled out a future bid for the cross-channel ferry firm, which employs nearly 1,000 people.


Charlie Elphicke MP: "The heart of the whole community goes out to them"
Mr Elphicke said of Eurotunnel's proposals: "Many people will want to know that they weren't simply going to buy them [SeaFrance's ferries] in order to scrap them.

"We need to make sure they give a clear plan as to why they are interested in the ferry business and not simply going to take out capacity.

"Everyone is working as hard as they can to ensure that their jobs will be safeguarded and working as hard as they can to ensure that those ships will be back on route with a new buyer and a new purchaser."

'Booking refunds'
A spokesman said Eurotunnel would "now be working to see what the fair value of the assets" were before making any decision.

The French firm went into receivership in 2010 and its company's ferries carried more than 3.5 million passengers a year on the Dover to Calais route.

A spokeswoman from SeaFrance said: "SeaFrance is sad to announce that the Tribunal de Commerce in Paris has made the decision to liquidate the company.

"Despite the best efforts of all parties, the court came to the difficult conclusion that none of the options available to it were financially viable.

"Provision has been made to ensure that all customers with pre-existing bookings will receive refunds."

She urged customers to contact SeaFrance for details.

Collision-course

The Nord Pas De Calais is now advertised for sale with the other Seafrance ships under provisional offers.