SeaFrance has been officially liquidated by a French court and told to cease activity.
The Tribunal de Commerce decided the cross-channel operator’s future after the European Commission ruled a €200m (£176m) bailout by the French government was illegal.
The court said the offer by a cooperative of SeaFrance employees was unacceptable.
Eurotunnel has not ruled out a future bid for the cross-channel ferry firm and said it would “now be working to see what the fair value of the assets” were before making any decisions.
Sailings by SeaFrance between Dover and Calais were suspended in November and the firm went into receivership in 2010.
The firm had three ferries sailing between Dover and Calais.
A SeaFrance spokesman said: “Despite the best efforts of all parties, the court concluded none of the options available to it were financially viable. Provision has been made to ensure all customers with pre-existing bookings will receive refunds.”
