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SeaFrance was a ferry company based in France, wholly owned by the French railways, SNCF, which operated ferry services between Calais, France, and Dover, England. The company employed a total of 1,850 staff, including 1,300 seagoing personnel, and was the largest employer in the town of Calais. Its sister company, SeaFrance Limited, employed 200 in England. On 9 January 2012 the Commercial Court in Paris announced their decision to liquidate SeaFrance. From then on the company was prohibited from trading, with the loss of 1,850 jobs.〔() BBC News 9/1/12〕 ==History== SeaFrance began operations between Dover and Calais in 1996 after the termination of a pooling agreement with Sealink (by then known as Stena Sealink Line) in 1995. The service initially began with the former Sealink vessels ''Fiesta'' and ''Côte d'Azur'' which became ''SeaFrance Cézanne'' and ''SeaFrance Renoir'' respectively after extensive refurbishments to create a distinctive French atmosphere on board. Former Sealink train ferry ''Nord Pas-de-Calais'' became the and operated as a freight only ferry, though SeaFrance did market the ship to passengers as a quiet ship. The three vessels were later joined by the former ''Stena Londoner'' which became the ''SeaFrance Monet''. SeaFrance quickly became the second busiest operator on the Dover-Calais route after P&O European Ferries and ahead of their former partners now known as Stena Line. In 1997 the ''SeaFrance Manet'' entered service after a five year charter to Stena Line for the Newhaven—Dieppe service, the ship essentially replaced the ''Monet'' which was later sold, after being damaged in Calais. SeaFrance took delivery of the ''SeaFrance Rodin'' in 2001, their first new ship and the fastest Dover—Calais ferry. She was joined in 2005 by the ''SeaFrance Berlioz'', a sister ship built at a different yard.〔 SeaFrance was one of five companies invited to tender for the operation of the Transmanche Ferries service between Dieppe and Newhaven. The SNCF and later SNAT operated the route until 1992, when they withdrew after poor performance due to almost constant strike action. The route later passed to Sealink Stena Line (later renamed Stena Sealink Line and finally Stena Line). The route became part of P&O Stena Line with the merger of the company's Eastern Channel services and they operated the route until 1998, after which Hoverspeed operated a fast-ferry service on the route until 2004. Because the French local government did not want the route to be lost, they started a subsidized line called Transmanche Ferries in April 2001. After five years of service and the arrival of two new-build ships, the government had to tender the line in a concession to comply with European Union regulations. The contract to operate the service was awarded to LD Lines on 21 December 2006. In 2008, SeaFrance introduced the ''SeaFrance Molière'', withdrew the ''SeaFrance Manet'', and subsequently withdrew the ''SeaFrance Renoir''.〔(- "SeaFrance Molière, a new ferry on the Calais/Dover route" )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「SeaFrance」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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