“We sleep on cardboard boxes like homeless people”: in the port of Sète, more than 250 travelers stuck waiting for their boat to Algeria

Une partie des voyageurs bloqués en gare maritime de Sète. Midi Libre – Thomas Ancona-Léger

Depuis le mardi 23 juillet, des centaines de voyageurs sont bloquées dans la gare maritime de Sète en attente de leur bateau à destination de Oran, en Algérie.

Tablecloths thrown on the ground on which a few children sleep and play. Duvets, piles of luggage and elderly people wandering in search of a little fresh air on this stifling late afternoon. Welcome to Orsetti Station, the ferry terminal in Sète, where since Tuesday, July 23, more than 200 passengers have been stuck waiting for their boat.

Chartered by the company Algérie Ferries, also known as the Entreprise Nationale de Transport Maritime de Voyageurs, the Tassili II was originally scheduled to stop in Sète last Tuesday, where passengers from all over France and even Belgium were preparing to board for Oran, Algeria. “We were warned a week before departure that the boat would be two days late”, explains one of the travelers, who arrived on July 25. Except that the information had obviously not been transmitted well, there were dozens of them who learned on the day of the delay of their boat.

Insufficient compensation

"We were then told that departure was scheduled for Saturday 27 in the morning, then in the evening. And since then, nothing. We don't know what we're going to do tomorrow", confides Yasmine, whose two young children sleep on a floor mat in a corner of the station. In the meantime, the transport company has granted some compensation for the hotel and parking costs, but these, according to a certificate shown by one of the passengers, start from Thursday, July 25, and not from the 23rd, the official departure date of the boat. Many also consider that the compensation, amounting to 40 euros per person and 20 euros per car, is not enough. “All the hotels are already full during this summer period, how do you expect us to find a room at this price ?”, protests Fatma, who came from Nantes, who adds: “We sleep on cardboard boxes, like homeless people".

Without a specific contact person according to them, the travelers are still without an explanation for the causes of the delay. The Algérie Ferries company has been experiencing multiple problems with its fleet since the beginning of the season. The latest reported by the Algerian online media TSA, the one that occurred in Alicante on the Mobi Dada, immobilized due to faulty air conditioning, which caused a disruption of all departure times.

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