Chaos has unfolded for DFDS Seaways, as industrial action in Calais is stopped its vessels from berthing earlier today.

It was understood that ex-MyFerryLink workers were burning tyres, causing a thick black smoke to fill the air.

The strikes blocked the berth and caused a domino effect across the Channel, with traffic in Dover starting to build up.

DFDS has since tweeted that its services will resume to normal.

Commenting on reports the strikes are due to a dispute over the ferry firm's recruitment of MyFerryLink staff, DFDS senior vice president Carsten Jensen said: "We are in the process of recruiting staff for our two new ferries on our Calais service, which are due to enter service in February.

"As part of this process we agreed to recruit up to 202 former SCOP SeaFrance workers, 74 of whom we have already offered employment to.

“There are a number of factors involved in offering this number of jobs to date, including a relatively low amount of applications from former SCOP SeaFrance workers.

"I would, however, like to underline that this is an ongoing recruitment process."

The Port of Dover has remained open and P&O Ferries sailings have proceeded as normal.