P&O Ferries, part of DP World, has suspended all sailings pending a major announcement that could reveal major redundancies.
Dubai-based logistics giant DP World said the company is not going into liquidation but did add that the change it is about to announce would secure the viability of P&O Ferries.
The @POferries situation is unclear. DP World insists it's not announcing liquidation. Unions already demanding protection of UK seafarer jobs amid speculation that hundreds of UK seafarers are to be sacked and replaced with foreign labour [Thread]
— Richard Meade (@Lloydslisted) March 17, 2022
All of P&O’s vessels have been asked to discharge their passengers and cargo and standby for further instructions. Employees on board the vessels have been told to disembark, prompting speculation that the company is, in the words of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) Union, “planning to sack hundreds of UK seafarers and replace them with foreign labour”.
The union has instructed its members to remain on board the vessels.
@RMTunion: “We are deeply disturbed by growing speculation that the company are today planning to sack hundreds of UK seafarers and replace them with foreign labour.
— Richard Meade (@Lloydslisted) March 17, 2022
In the meantime, P&O services have been suspended and the company is trying to arrange alternative arrangements for customers who have booked places on its ferries.
Services were suspended at 7.30am today. Customers are being advised to arrive at the port and make their way to the DFDS check-in booths.
Whatever the announcement is, they are keeping it locked down for now. It seems the UK Chamber of Shipping were not informed and unions are speculating rather than making statements, so there's little clarity right now.
— Richard Meade (@Lloydslisted) March 17, 2022
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps took time off from ordering that 10 yachts linked to Russian oligarchs be prevented from leaving British waters to express concern over the news relating to P&O Ferries.
"I'm working with the Kent Resilience Forum and I've just instructed them to become intricately involved and other partners in this, and we'll be taking steps later today - including ensuring that my officials will be having urgent discussions with P&O about the situation, particularly of concern for their workers,” Shapps said, according to Sky News.
P&O services will not be running for the next few hours. We are advising travellers of alternative arrangements. We will update this feed every 30 minutes with the operational situation.
— P&O Ferries Updates (@POferriesupdate) March 17, 2022
P&O Ferries warned in May 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic was affecting global travel that around 1,100 jobs were at risk.
The company, which has a long and storied history as hinted at by its old name of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, operates four routes: Dover – Calais; Hull – Rotterdam; Liverpool – Dublin; and Cairnryan – Larne.
It’s a big comedown from the glory days of the P&O Steam Navigation Company, which was established in 1835, and first secured a government contract for the regular carriage of mail between Falmouth and the Iberian peninsula in 1837.
In 1840, the company won the mail delivery gig for UK/Egypt on the proviso that its steam-ship services would be extended to India within two years. The Indian mail service was inaugurated in the autumn of 1842 by P&O's purpose-built, 1,800 tons, wooden paddle steamer Hindostan and additional mail contracts followed in what was then referred to as the Orient – now widely regarded as an antiquated term and deemed in some circles to be offensive. The term is derived from “oriens,” the Latin word for “east.”
By March 2006, P&O had grown to become one of the largest port operators in the world and together with P&O Ferries, P&O Ferrymasters, P&O Maritime Services, P&O Cold Logistics and its British property interests, the company was acquired by DP World for £3.3 billion.