Cross-channel travellers were told by one of the largest ferry operators on Thursday to use a competitor, as P&O Ferries cancelled services and ordered all of its vessels to port.
The company, owned by Nasdaq-traded Emirati shipping conglomerate DP World, said it was not going into liquidation, but had cancelled Thursday sailings.
Its official advice to travellers was to use an ‘alternative operator’, with DFDS Seaways and Irish Ferries also operating across the stretch of water.
The firm did not make the reasons for its suspension immediately clear, but said it was “in preparation for a company announcement”.
Transport union RMT, however, pointed to speculation that the firm was preparing to sack hundreds of crewmembers and replace them with less expensive foreign seamen.
It told its members to remain onboard their vessels even after docking, to avoid being locked out of their jobs.
“We are digging in for the long-haul. We are determined to fight,” said spokesperson Geoff Martin.
According to the BBC, P&O Ferries said in a message to staff that the announcement would “secure the long-term viability of P&O Ferries”.
It also quoted the company as saying it was not going into liquidation.
P&O Ferries has been owned by DP World and its predecessor Dubai World since 2006, when the company bought what was left of the once-behemoth P&O Group.
The former group had spun off its cruise business in 2000, which is now owned by Carnival, and offloaded its remaining holding in freight operator P&O Nedlloyd in 2004, which was subsequently folded into Danish shipping giant Maersk.
P&O Ferries remains headquartered at Dover, but re-flagged its vessels to the Cypriot port of Limassol in 2019, “for operational and accounting reasons” ahead of Brexit.
That move was criticised by the RMT union at the time, which described it as “pure opportunism”.
