The troubled Dover-Calais ferry operator, SeaFrance has today been granted some breathing space after the Tribunal de Commerce de Paris put it into judicial liquidation, but allowed it to keep trading until 28 January.

The tribunal decided that the only two rescue offers for the company were both inadequate, and effectively gave SeaFrance a chance to seek new offers.

This decision has temporarily separated the opposing sides. One offer of €5m is from a consortium of competitors, DFDS and LD Lines. They propose to radically slim down the company, reducing the fleet from four ships to three and staff from 800 to 460.

The opposing offer - a token €1 - came, perhaps un-surprisingly, from an employee co-operative organised by the CFDT union, which plans to retain the fleet & staff levels.

Yesterday, in anticipation of today's tribunal, SeaFrance suspended all sailings for 48 hours and left its ships tied up in Calais with the crews on board, prompting suspicions that crews might stage a sit-in if the decision went in favour of DFDS/LD Lines.

SeaFrance has been in administration after making €240 million losses last year, while DFDS has just announced a 48% rise in third-quarter profits to €43.2 million.

For passengers caught up in this, the SeaFrance website is no help, but there is a UK helpline: 0044 (0) 845 458 0666.