P&O announced on Thursday morning the suspension of its traffic pending “an announcement from the company” while ensuring that it was “not a liquidation”.
The shipping company P&O Ferries, which notably provides links between France and the United Kingdom, announced Thursday the dismissal of 800 sailors, estimating that the “business survival” is in play. “P&O Ferries is not a viable business. We made a loss of 100 million pounds over one year (nearly 120 million euros), which was covered by our parent company DP World“, a port operator based in Dubai, justified the company in a press release sent to AFP. “Our survival depends on rapid and meaningful change now“, insisted the company in its press release.
Read also2022 cruise special: 14 sea crossings
The decision to lay off 800 sailors, out of a total of 3,000 employees, is “very difficult but necessary“and was taken”after seriously considering all available options“. P&O had announced Thursday morning the suspension of its traffic pending “a company announcement“While assuring that it was not a question of”not a liquidation“. In France, in Calais (Pas-de-Calais), the local management of P&O Ferries had announced a little earlier during an extraordinary social and economic committee (CSE) “the dismissal of 800 British sailors“, on the entire P&O Ferries division, which must be replaced by Colombian sailors and temporary workers, to reduce the wage bill by 50%,” said a union source to AFP.
“The management read us a press release from the British management, we do not know more»had added this source, underlining “that no employee is affected in France“. According to this source, in England, in Dover, “security guards escorted» personnel away from company premises, and100 Colombians and 40 temporary workers were escortedin order to board the group’s ferries stationed in the British port. P&O Ferries, which is owned by Dubai-based DP World, one of the world’s largest port operators, said in May 2020 it wanted to lay off around 1,100 people as part of a plan to make the business “viable and sustainable “in the face of the pandemic. That is a reduction of almost half of the workforce in almost two years.
The general secretary of the British transport union RMT, Mick Lynch, has called for an intervention by the Minister for Transport. “I am very concerned about the news coming out of P&O Ferries this morning and we will speak with the company today to understand the impact on workers and passengers“Reacted the Minister of Transport Grant Shapps on Twitter. P&O Ferries operates routes between France, Great Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands.
SEE ALSO – “We breathe!”: employees relieved by the lifting of the health protocol in the company