CROSS-CHANNEL operator Hoverspeed is creating around 100 jobs to cope with expected growth this year. The company needs more than 60 people for its services between Dover, Calais and Ostend and just over 30 for its Newhaven-Dieppe route.

The move follows dramatic growth in vehicle and passenger traffic on its high-speed SuperSeacats and plans to increase the number of daily sailings this year from 13 to 16.

Most positions will be at sea, either as cabin crew in the passenger areas, or deck crew in the vehicle areas. There will also be opportunities on shore for customer service assistants in the terminals and food outlets.

Company spokesman Nick Stevens said the jobs had been advertised nationally but he hoped to attract many local people with the right language skills and previous ferry industry experience.

“We have to spread the net as widely as possible but we hope to find the people we need from Kent,” he added. Hoverspeed already employs around 450 people and some of the seasonal jobs could become permanent.