by business editor Trevor Sturgess

A French court has cleared the way for a third ferry force on the Dover-Calais route, raising the prospect of 100 new jobs in Dover.

Eurotunnel won its bid to buy three ships formerly operated by SeaFrance, which officially went bust in January, and lease them to a new operator.

The planned operation, provisionally dubbed “Eurofunnel,” is headed by former Brittany Ferries boss Jean-Michel Giguet who will now start recruiting some 600 former SeaFrance employees, including around 100 in Dover.

A decision had been stalled when SNCF, the French railway operator and former SeaFrance owner, demanded compensation for past investment in SeaFrance.

Eurotunnel had warned it would pull out of any deal if it had to bid higher in a second round.

But SNCF bosses waived their latest £14m claim at a board meeting this morning, paving the way for the court’s decision to back Eurotunnel’s £52m bid.

John Keefe, Eurotunnel spokesman, welcomed the ruling by the commercial court in Paris.

“We’re very pleased, it’s taken a long time but they’ve seen the value of the industrial argument we put forward and the opportunity for the creation of nearly 600 jobs in the near future. It’s saved the boats from being sold to the lowest bidder and taken off to other routes, It’s good news all round.”

Eurotunnel hopes the operation will start this summer, although the ships the Berlioz, Rodin and Nord Pas de Calais,will need extensive refurbishment after languishing in the port of Calais for eight months.

“We’ve already spoken to shipyards about that so once we have the ships, we will be able to move that forward pretty quickly. The operating company will start to recruit and get boats into service as quickly as possible.”

He added: “It will probably be months rather than weeks but we certainly hope to have a service in operation this summer.”

The new operation will compete with P&O and a more recent DFDS/LD ferry service.