Freight News, Sea

Brittany welcomes French plan to outlaw low-wage ferries

[ April 4, 2023   //   Chris Lewis ]

Brittany Ferries has welcomed a proposed French law to block ferry companies from ports if they do not pay seafarers minimum wages. It received unanimous support in the Assemblée Nationale on 28 March and has now passed to the Senate in the next step in the legislative process.

The new law says that French ports will impose a ban on any operator that infringes the rules more than three times. A decree in the Council of State will specify duration of the ban.

The move follows introduction of the similar Seafarers Wages Act in the UK, which received royal assent on 23 March. Like the French proposal, the law mandates minimum wage requirements for ferries operating on the English Channel.

Brittany said that when implemented, French and British rules could work in parallel creating a de facto cross-Channel corridor for ferry workers and the companies that employ them.

Brittany Ferries operates 12 ships on 14 routes, all of them under the French flag and the company is the largest employer of seafarers in France.

Tags: Brittany Ferries