Ferry company DFDS has won the contract to operate a major new duty-free shop in Calais - offering travellers up to 50% off UK high street prices.

The firm, which runs cross-Channel services from Dover to Calais and Dunkirk, will open the 1,000sq metre shop at the new port terminal in Calais. The store will open in October.

Prior to its opening will be another store at the port of Dunkirk, also to be run by DFDS, which will open in July.

Filip Hermann, vice-president at DFDS, said: “Both will offer an exciting new shopping experience for cross-Channel travellers, with convenient access directly from the car lanes at our terminals, making it quick and easy to load up your vehicle with duty-free goods.

“We’ve expanded our duty-free product range to include a host of top electronics brands, a new partnership with Lego and a wide variety of premium drinks, cosmetics and fragrance brands. We expect the new shops at Calais and Dunkirk to be very popular, attracting thousands of new cross-Channel shoppers to the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region and boosting the number of passengers travelling for daytrips or short breaks on the Continent, once travel restrictions are lifted later this summer.

“Our investment in these new shops and our continued close collaboration with the port of Calais is a clear statement of our confidence in the resilience and popularity of our cross-Channel services. We’re delighted that this partnership will enable us to offer our passengers a fantastic new duty-free shopping experience that isn’t available elsewhere.”

The Calais outlet is part of the Calais Port 2015 project - a major investment scheme backed by the Nord Pas-de-Calais-Picardie Region, which owns the port, and funded under the European Union priority infrastructure plan.

Head to our business page for all of the latest news about businesses in Kent