Ferry News Archive
LDA in surprise SeaFrance bid
Date: 20 Feb 2009 00:00 Source: Lloyds ListFrench shipping conglomerate Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) has launched a surprise bid to take control of loss-making Dover Strait ferry operator SeaFrance and merge it with its own fast-growing ferry subsidiary, LD Lines.
LDA told Lloyd’s List it had submitted a proposal to this effect to SeaFrance’s owner, French national rail operator SNCF, and that it was waiting for a reply.
The group believes it can avoid the 650 job cuts announced by SeaFrance this week through the creation of an enlarged group, which would bear the SeaFrance name but incorporate LD Lines’ Le Havre-Portsmouth, Dieppe-Newhaven, Dieppe-Dover and Boulogne-Dover services.
“We think a rapprochement would enable us to better use the existing fleet and safeguard jobs in the region,” said LDA general manager Pierre Géhanne.
He indicated the group was not necessarily targeting a complete takeover of SeaFrance. “SNCF should remain a partner,” he said.
He said LDA had never concealed its wish to establish itself in the Dover Strait, notably with the acquisition of SeaFrance or Norfolkline’s Dunkirk-Dover operation, but that, to date, neither company had been offered for sale. “When we understood that SeaFrance was having difficulties, we got out the dossier again,” he said.
Given that SeaFrance is due to start discussions with unions on its job-cutting plan in a few days, the takeover proposal will need to be discussed quickly. Mr Géhanne said it would need to be dealt with in “the month to come”.
LD Lines moved into the Dover Strait in its own right for the first time last week with the simultaneous launches of a twice-daily service between Boulogne sur Mer and Dover and a once-daily service between Dieppe and Dover.
These two services have been added to the existing services between Le Havre and Portsmouth and Dieppe and Newhaven.
SeaFrance operates solely between Calais and Dover but offers a high-frequency service using three car ferries and two freight vessels.
“A merger of the two companies into a big SeaFrance taking in LD Lines and SeaFrance with its headquarters in Calais could result in a French leader capable of facing up to the competition at a time when the economic situation is particularly difficult,” said Mr Géhanne.
SNCF declined to comment on LDA’s approach yesterday but said it was preparing a statement. Earlier this month, however, SNCF chairman Guillaume Pépy told French journalists the company was “very attached” to SeaFrance and had no plans to sell it.
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