According to reports, shipping at Calais was stopped early in the day by the strikers, who prevented the unloading of freight cargo and maneuvered their vessels to stop the movement of other ships at Calais.
Eyewitnesses also reported seeing migrants using the chaos as a distraction as they boarded UK-bound trucks in France, despite the intervention of French riot police.
As well as blocking shipping, the workers used burning tires to block the entrance to the Channel Tunnel linking La Manche to Dover in Kent.
Fire still burning at Eurotunnel entrance. pic.twitter.com/j8dkhVMSmn
— Scott Brownlee (@ToyotaPR) 23 июня 2015
Eric Vercoutre, General Secretary of the Syndicat Maritime Nord, the trade union organizing the strike, told the press that around 400 workers, spread across the area of the harbor and tunnel entrance, were taking part in the industrial action, who "have nothing to lose."
"We are demanding that the government obliges the managing director of Eurotunnel to honor his word."
On Tuesday afternoon it was announced that Eurotunnel services had been forced to be suspended, after workers blocked the tunnel.
Passenger service temporarily suspended for safety reasons due to protesters having accessed our Terminal in France. Updates to follow. ^LD
— Eurotunnel LeShuttle (@LeShuttle) 23 июня 2015
The striking sailors work for the ferry company MyFerryLink, which employs around 600 people. The strike was announced after news that Eurotunnel had decided to sell two of the ferries operated by MyFerryLink to Danish competitor DFDS, leading workers to expect job cuts in the resulting restructuring of the ferry services.
