P&O Ferries to resume Dover-Calais route for first time since mass sackings
ITV News Meridian's John Ryall reports from Dover.
P&O Ferries is set to resume services on its Dover-Calais route this week for the first time since the company sacked 800 workers last month as part of 'necessary cuts'.
The firm was selling tickets for cross-Channel sailings on its ship Spirit of Britain, with the first departure at 4.25am on Wednesday from the Kent port.
However the company confirmed this was an 'error' with the website.
ITV News Meridian understands that 'freight' sailings will resume early this week, whilst passenger sailings will restart early next week.
The company previously suspended all of its services on the 17 March, citing a need to make 'swift and significant changes now'.
P&O said it had lost £100million year on year, which has been covered by its parent company DP World.
It replaced its staff with agency workers, who are paid significantly less than their predecessors.
The company is now touting passengers with tickets as low as £34.50, between Dover and Calais, on its Spirit of Britain vessel.
This significantly undercuts rival operator, DFDS, which charges £68 for a crossing at a similar time on the same day.
Tickets have also gone on sale for the journey's on the Pride of Kent, which has not yet passed its inspection.
The vessel previously failed after a number of deficiencies were found by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). The company is offering tickets from Tuesday 3rd of May.
When asked, the MCA said it was not aware of any P&O Ferries inspections or reinspections.
Sacked seafarer, John Lansdown, who worked for P&O Ferries said that cheap fares can't repair the damage to P&O's reputation.
"The chaos that they have brought to Kent, to roads in Kent and to businesses as well.
"Their actions have already hugely impacted businesses and I think people are going to be extremely mindful of their safety.
"They've seen the steps taken by the MCA to detain this vessels on safety grounds... no, this isn't going to wash."
Watch: John Lansdown speaks to ITV Meridian about the restarting of P&O services.
The vessel was detained earlier this month and P&O Ferries were requested to fix “a number of” safety issues raised by the assessment before the MCA carried out a second inspection.
A spokesperson for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: "The Spirit of Britain has been released from detention and can commence operations when P&O Ferries are ready.
"The inspection of the European Highlander is now complete; there are a small number of deficiencies and the MCA requires confirmation that these have been rectified before the vessel is free to resume service."
The ship’s detention, along with that of the Pride Of Kent vessel, caused a shortage of ferry capacity in the run-up to Easter on the key Dover-Calais route, which contributed to large queues of lorries on coastbound roads in Kent.
Safety fears were raised after P&O Ferries replaced nearly 800 seafarers with cheaper agency staff on March 17.
The firm suspended most of its sailings but reportedly only expected the disruption to last up to 10 days.
Meanwhile, Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union general secretary Mick Lynch claimed P&O Ferries has been “prevented from further cutting the pay of vulnerable agency crew” by “pressure from RMT seafarers”.
The firm, owned by Dubai-based logistics giant DP World, insisted no agency workers were asked to take a pay cut.
A spokesperson for P&O Ferries said:
“No agency seafarers were asked to accept reduced wages and we have contacted the MCA to request that they withdraw their statement, which is misleading.
"There was an administrative misunderstanding around the contract presented to one individual who appears to have been unaware of an appendix which made clear that he would be entitled to an additional £195 a month, meaning that there was no change in his overall pay.
"There are no plans to change or reduce the wages of any of our agency seafarers and we have made clear that we will continue to comply fully with any national minimum wage obligations introduced by the UK Government.”