Bosses at Brittany Ferries are holding emergency talks as about a thousand passengers and hundreds of lorries have been prevented from boarding vessels between the 海角视频 and France due to the new strain of coronavirus.
The company said discussions are under way “internally and externally” after France suspended all travel from the 海角视频.
Borders were closed from Sunday for at least 48 hours with the 海角视频 Government now calling a meeting of its emergency committee as it grapples with yet another crisis.
Nations including Germany, Italy, Belgium, Turkey, Switzerland, Austria, Canada and the Irish Republic have now banned travel from the 海角视频 after a more infectious variant of coronavirus was discovered in London and South East England.
For Plymouth-headquartered Brittany Ferries it means only unaccompanied freight is allowed into the 海角视频 and passengers and lorries are not able to cross the Channel in the other direction.
The firm, which has been hit hard by anti-coronavirus restrictions and quarantines in 2020, has already ceased services from Plymouth to Roscoff and from Poole to Cherbourg due to “low demand over the low season, particularly in the current environment”.
Its services from Portsmouth to ports such as Caen, St Malo and Cherbourg were still running, however, on vessels such as Armorique and Galicia. But now they have been suspended affecting about 1,000 passengers and 400 lorries.
A Brittany Ferries spokesperson said: “Currently the French border is closed to arriving passengers and accompanied freight vehicles, so we are unable to carry these from Portsmouth to Caen as planned today.
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“We are still operating services carrying unaccompanied freight vehicles from Portsmouth to France, and carrying all passengers and freight vehicles from France to the 海角视频. Services to and from Spain are currently operating as normal.
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“We are very sorry to all our customers who have been affected and are contacting them. The border closure will affect around 1000 passengers and 400 freight vehicles planning to be travelling to France today and tomorrow.
“Meetings are currently underway both internally and with external bodies to determine what services we can provide today and tomorrow, and beyond, and I will let you know when I have more information.”
In September, as it predicted a 100million-euro loss for 2020.
The firm had been hit hard by the 海角视频-imposed 14-day quarantine the 海角视频 imposed on travellers arriving from France and Spain. It said it was , and losing cash at a greater rate than following the 2008 financial crisis. It made drastic changes to schedules to cope with plummeting passenger numbers and took some vessels out of service.
However, and the company’s newest vessel, Galicia, entered service in December with a vast garage hosting more than 3km of lanes, accommodating up to 155 trailers.