P&O Ferries made 800 staff redundant with immediate effect and suspended crossings for the next few days, sparking a backlash from politicians and unions who criticised plans to hire cheaper agency workers instead.
The shock move caused delays around Britain’s busiest port, Dover, and drew threats of a standoff as trade unions urged their members to defy any instructions to leave P&O ships.
P&O’s move was immediately condemned by unions and described as a public relations disaster on social media after the BBC broadcast a clip of an unidentified man announcing the news in a pre-recorded Zoom message.
“Your final day of employment is today,” the man said, outlining plans to use a third-party crew provider. P&O did not immediately comment when asked to verify the video.
The ferry group, which has been hit by Covid-19 travel restrictions in the last two years, has almost 4,000 employees and operates more than 30,000 sailings a year on major routes including between Britain, France, and Ireland. Dubai ports firm DP World bought the company in 2019.
“As part of the process we are starting today, we are providing 800 seafarers with immediate severance notices and will be compensating them for this lack of advance notice with enhanced compensation packages,” a spokesperson for P&O said.
The firm said it had lost £100m (€118.5m) year on year, which had been covered by DP World.
“This is not sustainable,” the spokesperson said. “Our survival is dependent on making swift and significant changes now. Without these changes there is no future for P&O Ferries.”
P&O said it was unable to run services for the next few days, and advised passengers to continue to travel to ports, where they would be accommodated by alternative carriers.
Transport union RMT said it had advised its members who worked for P&O not to leave their vessels.
P&O has a fleet of more than 20 ships that sail across the English Channel, North Sea, and Irish Sea, and operates sailings from Dublin to Liverpool and from Larne to Scotland.
Aidan Flynn, chief executive at the hauliers group, Freight Transport Association Ireland said that everyone had been taken aback by the unexpected move but he hoped that there would be no shrinkage in freight capacity across the Irish Sea.
Mr Flynn described the Dublin-Liverpool route as “a stalwart” of Irish-British goods trade but there was nonetheless some confidence there would be little disruption to supply chains.
Irish hauliers have for some time faced significant challenges linked to the last-minute signing of the Brexit deal between Britain and the EU on Christmas Eve in 2020.
However, new direct sea routes from Ireland to France have helped haulage firms and Irish goods get directly to continental Europe and avoid the congestion at Channel ports caused by Brexit.
