A new ferry service between Dover and Calais will start in a fortnight.

DFDS and LD Lines has confirmed it will be running two cross-Channel boats, with the first sailing on Friday, February 17.

The join passenger and freight ferry service will operate under a French flag.

The company said it would hire 300 workers, many of them former SeaFrance staff.

The ailing French ferry firm was liquidated by a French court on January 9 after more than a year of financial problems.

DFDS dropped its attempt to by the ailing SeaFrance, which operated three ferries on the Dover to Calais route before the service was suspended in November.

A DFDS spokesman said: "We look forward to continuing this fruitful cooperation to the benefit of the future development of the route as well as employment.

"We are confident that our customers and the many people and freight companies that travel between France and Dover will benefit from the flexibility we can now offer with both a northern leg on Dover-Dunkerque and a southern leg on Calais-Dover."