Folkestone route set to start up
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• Plans for a new freight ferry service on the Folkestone-Boulogne route are progressing with a French consortium announcing that a service will start soon.
It is expected Opale Ferries will start the freight-only service with a 40 vehicle-capacity service in mid-June.
The French, backed by the Boulogne Chamber of Commerce, are believed to have received underwriting by public funds for the enterprise, beating a British bid to run the service.
Bert Wall, a British organiser says: "I haven't totally given up but it's looking more unlikely."
Wall, and the 160 seafarers backing his moves, were made redundant when Sealink Stena Line closed its Folkestone-Boulogne route.
Wall and the French consortium have been in competition for the business for the past few months. They had both first hoped to run a mixed passenger and freight service but plans were reduced to freight-only.