Dover-Calais ferries suspended due to strike in France | Water transport

Ferry services to and from Calais have been suspended on Thursday due to a national strike in France, the Port of Dover has said.

P&O Ferries said it had produced an optimised sailing schedule in light of the 24-hour strike, known as the National Day of Action, which began at 7am.

The ferry company also said owing to a lack of details it could not anticipate the level of disruption to its sailing schedule.

The Port of Dover said it was still open, with services to Dunkirk running as normal, but travellers should expect it, and the local road network around Dover, to be busier than usual.

“Please plan ahead, allowing extra time for your journey and traffic systems that are in place to minimise delays,” it added. “Calais sailings are expected to resume at approximately 2pm UTC from Dover.”

P&O Ferries said: “We will attempt to limit disruption wherever possible. However, if your journey is not essential, we do advise that you rearrange your travel to an alternative date.”

Eurostar said its services would also be affected and it would be running a revised timetable on Thursday and Friday. Passengers have been told to check if their train has been cancelled.