More than 1,000 people lose jobs at P&O ferries

Kit Heren11 May 2020

More than 1,000 people have lost their jobs at one of the UK's largest ferry companies due to plummeting passenger numbers sparked by the coronavirus crisis.

P&O Ferries said the move was to make the company "viable and sustainable" during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But the redundancies were greeted with fury by union RMT, who called the move "a kick in the teeth" for its members, some of whom work for P&O Ferries.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said: “This is devastating news and an appalling betrayal of the P&O workforce."

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash 
PA Archive/PA Images

“This is a kick in the teeth for P&O seafarers who have maintained key supply lines to the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“What is utterly shameful is P&O have been kept afloat by our members and the taxpayer whilst their owners have been paying out hundreds of millions in dividends in Dubai and cooking up plans to permanently replace UK seafarers with low-cost seafarers from thousands of miles away.

“This is an attack on British seafarers, crew and the biggest fear is that these jobs will never return to Dover or Hull. But you can guarantee that P&O ferries will still be running passenger ferry services from those ports to protect their owner’s profits at the country’s expense.

“We are seeking urgent talks with the company and will fight tooth and nail against these job losses and we are calling on the Government to step in now and nationalise these services to protect jobs and the UK’s maritime interests.”

A P&O Ferries vessel (P&O Ferries)
P&O Ferries

The news comes after it was revealed in April that P&O had tried unsuccessfully to get a £150 million Government bailout for its 21-ship fleet.

The company is now running just 15 ships with less frequency and expects to receive some Government help to maintain its reduced operations.

P&O Ferries' parent company DP World paid out a £270 million shareholder dividend in April.

Stormy weather: a P&O Ferries ship arrives in Dover in 2018 
PA

A spokesman for the company said: “Since the beginning of the crisis, P&O Ferries has been working with its stakeholders to address the impact of the loss of the passenger business.

“It is now clear that right-sizing the business is necessary to create a viable and sustainable P&O Ferries to get through Covid-19.

“Regrettably, therefore, due to the reduced number of vessels we are operating and the ongoing downturn in business, we are beginning consultation proceedings with a proposal to make around 1,100 of our colleagues redundant.”

P&O began sailing in the 1960s. Before the coronavirus crisis its ships took around 8.4 million passengers on around 27,000 trips a year.

The travel industry is taking a major hit from the coronavirus pandemic, after the British Government advised against all non-essential travel in March.

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