Sailings to Corsica and North Africa by French Mediterranean ferry company SNCM were brought to a standstill today (26 March) as seafarers went on strike in an attempt to prevent the company being put into receivership.

The seafarers are striking for 24 hours, but have warned that they are ready to renew their action on a daily basis if they fail to get a satisfactory response to their demands from the French government.

They are looking to have the company brought under French state control by forcing out its leading private sector shareholder, Veolia. Veolia is in a joint venture with state financial institution Caisse des Depots in Transdev, which has a 66% holding in the Marseilles-based ferry company, but has indicated that it wants to withdraw from the company which it wants put into receivership.

The CGT seafarers' union has said that it wants to see the company, in which the French state already has a direct 25% stake, taken over by Caisse des Depots as a means of securing the company's future and carrying out a major fleet renewal programme. Reuters quoted CGT seafarers' leader Frédéric Alpozzo as saying, "The length of the industrial action will depend on the replies that the government gives us on the future of the company."

SNCM is losing money but also faces having to repay aid totalling €440M which the European Commission (EC) said had been paid to it illegally.