P&O cancels services with 800 workers fired
Image source, Press AssociationP&O Ferries has made 800 seafaring staff redundant, but some crew are defying orders and refusing to leave their cabins.
The ferry operator said the "tough decision" was made to secure the future of the business.
Union RMT said crewmembers were being "replaced with foreign labour".
Private security officers have been sent onto one ship docked at Larne Harbour in Northern Ireland, to remove staff on board, according to the RMT.
P&O said its survival was dependent on "making swift and significant changes now"
"In its current state, P&O Ferries is not a viable business. We have made a £100m loss year on year, which has been covered by our parent DP World. This is not sustainable. Without these changes there is no future for P&O Ferries."
Some sailings scheduled for today have been cancelled, with passengers told to use other companies.
P&O services scheduled today include 14 between Dover and Calais, three between Liverpool and Dublin and seven between Larne in County Antrim and Cairnryan in Dumfries and Galloway.
The union said it has instructed members to stay on board their vessels once they have docked or risk being "locked out" of their jobs.
"We are digging in for the long-haul. We are determined to fight," RMT spokesperson Geoff Martin said.
A seafaring P&O employee told the BBC his colleagues onboard have refused to disembark and are instead "in their cabins refusing to work".
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told MPs in the Commons he was "concerned" about the reports and "will be taking steps later today including ensuring that my officials are having urgent discussions with P&O about the situation".
A P&O Ferries spokesperson said: "P&O Ferries is not going into liquidation. We have asked all ships to come alongside, in preparation for a company announcement. Until then, services from P&O will not be running and we are advising travellers of alternative arrangements."
The cross-Channel operator has said on Twitter that sailings between Dover and Calais scheduled for 11:10am, 11:15am and 12:35pm will no longer run, and customers with tickets were instructed to check-in to rival ferry company DFDS' services.
DFDS director of capacity and passenger Chris Parker said its staff "were working to take some of the passengers in between Dover and Calais where we can, and we have the capacity to do so".
'Long-term viability'
In a message to staff, P&O said its announcement "will secure the long-term viability of P&O Ferries" and has the backing of Dubai-based DP World, which bought the ferry company for £322m in 2019.
P&O is one of the UK's leading ferry companies, carrying more than 10 million passengers a year before the pandemic and about 15% of all freight cargo in and out of the UK.
According to its website, it employs almost 4,000 staff.
However, like many transport operators it saw demand slump in the pandemic, forcing it to announce 1,110 job cuts. That came after it failed to secure a £150m bailout from the government.
A maritime executive has told the BBC that the entire ferry sector has been decimated by the Covid crisis.
They pointed to the fact that British and French seafarers are particularly expensive to employ compared to foreign staff.
Lauren Shaw and her husband told the BBC they were booked with P&O to travel on a ferry from Cairnryan to Larne at 16:00 this afternoon. "We had a phone call at 10am to tell us there would be no sailings today and that they hadn't been told a reason why," she says.
With no further information, the couple have started travelling to the port because they live four hours away - and are hoping for an update soon. "They said that if we get to the port, they may be able to put us on Stena Line, but it's not guaranteed," Lauren says. "It's really frustrating."
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