About 44 people are arrested and others are later detained after climbing on to a DFDS vessel shortly after it docked in Calais.
Migrants have used ladders to board a cross-Channel ferry which had docked in Calais.
French police arrested 44 people who had climbed on board the ship overnight, according to a Pas-de-Calais prefecture official.
The migrants sneaked into the highly protected port area at about 9.15pm on Saturday evening and used the ladders to scale the vessel.
The people who were arrested are being held at Calais police station while police continue to search the ship, which had come from Dover.
La Voix du Nord newspaper said about 50 migrants, from several nationalities, attempted to get on to the vessel.
The paper said the DFDS ship MS Calais Seaways had just docked at the time with 211 passengers and 75 crew members on board.
Philippe Vennin, sub-prefect for the north and the Pas-de-Calais, told the newspaper: "Two of the migrants fell into the water and were quickly fished out by firefighters."
A crew member suffered minor injuries during a scuffle with the migrants.
DFDS tweeted overnight: "Cancelled service 0740 to Dover due to operational reasons, all customers will be transferred to the first available departure. Alternatively customers booked on this departure can travel on the first available departure from Dunkirk."
According to its latest tweet, DFDS suggested there were ongoing delays to Calais services.
The search operation continued for some time as some of the migrants attempted to stow away around the ship's chimney.
They were eventually forced down by specialist police climbers who ascended the chimney stack to recover them.
It is thought several hundred migrants are living in the Calais area, hoping to find a way to get to Britain.
Many have attempted to get to the UK in small boats in recent months, taking advantage of spells of good weather, but increased patrols by authorities have picked up many before they left French waters.
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