CROSS-CHANNEL traffic ground to a halt yesterday after seafarers set to lose their jobs blockaded the port of Calais and the Channel tunnel.

MyFerryLink, a co-operative that runs two passenger ferries leased from Eurotunnel between Dover and Calais, could shut up shop after the British Competition Commission ruled that the tunnel operator could not play a part in ferry operations.

Workers took action from 4am yesterday after it was announced that the co-op’s vessels would be sold to Danish ferry giant DFDS.

Ships were docked at the port’s entrance and workers burnt tyres on rail tracks and nearby roads. Ferries were cancelled or turned back to Dover.

Amid the chaos, desperate migrants stranded in Calais tried to stow away on lorries going to Britain. Eurotunnel and Eurostar services were soon suspended.

Seafarers’ union Syndicat Maritime Nord leader Eric Vercoutre told French media that jobs could be saved if an alternative buyer was found for the ships. He called on the French government to “put pressure” on Eurotunnel chief Jaques Gounon.

“We have been betrayed,” he said. “For DFDS take our ships would be out of the question — never!”

P&O Ferries chief executive Helen Deeble said her company had “tremendous sympathy” with the aggrieved workers but was “bearing the brunt of the disruption.

“Our services have been stopped in Calais as a result of the decision by Eurotunnel to charter and then sell two of their ships to DFDS at short notice,” she said.