In Larne Port, Co.Antrim, P&O Ferrymasters recorded a pre-tax profit of £11.1 million in results for the year in which its parent company, P&O Ferries, fired 800 workers across the UK and Ireland, the Belfast Telegraph reveals.

According to accounts for 2022, which were filed at Companies House last month by P&O Ferrymasters, the harbour town that connects Cairnryan, Scotland, had a strong financial performance. This took place just as its parent ferry company fired the existing workforce in order to hire other workers based on poorer terms.

The road and rail transport operations of P&O Ferrymasters are to be found internationally, as well as freight management within Europe.

Both North Channel ports of Larne and Cairnryan are part of the P&O Ferries group and are owned by Dubai-headquartered conglomerate DP World, which hit the headlines in March 2022 when a P&O Ferries official delivered a video message. This was issued to staff and crew, informing them their jobs were ending with immediate effect.

The mass sacking affected 800 people in total, including dozens of workers on the Larne-Cairnryan route who held protests at the north-east harbour over the actions of their former employer.

More from the newspaper on the story.

#FerryNews - A first for P&O Ferrymasters as the logistics supplies-chain operator opened a warehouse facility in the UK located in the Port of Liverpool.

According to MultiModal, P&O Ferrymasters has further expanded its supply chain network by opening the 800 square metre warehouse in Liverpool docks ferryport. Afloat adds the English north-west is part of the Peel Ports Group (see report on rival UK ports group, ABP).

The warehouse support its customers with cross-docking operations and feed its connection with P&O Ferries’ Liverpool-Dublin sailings which Afloat adds is served by a trio of ferries. They are ropax sisters, Norbank and Norbay and the larger passenger orientated European Endeavour. The company is a division of P&O Ferries, which sails on eight major routes between Ireland and the UK, Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

The warehouse - which will be open 24 hours a day and comprise eight loading bays supporting trailer and container operations - will give the logistics company an increased capacity to handle the projected uplift in daily full and part-load shipments across the Irish Sea. It will also support daily groupage and cross-docking operations, where loads from more than one customer are consolidated.

Andy Apsley, P&O Ferrymasters’ General Manager Ireland, said:“Following feedback from our customer base, we are introducing a cross-docking facility at Liverpool Port which will enable all customers to benefit from our portside location, streamline their logistical requirements and ultimately reduce their costs. Industry-leading IT systems such as load and cost optimisation and track and trace visibility will further enhance the customer experience.

“We manage more than 800 trailer movements a week into and out of the United Kingdom and our unique value proposition is being able to offer our customers – who come from all sectors including retail, fast moving consumer goods, automotive, and horticulture – a seamless, reliable and punctual service between Ireland, Britain and continental Europe.”

P&O Ferrymasters is a pan-European provider of logistics solutions. The company serves 20 strategic locations in 12 countries across the continent, operating integrated road, rail and sea links via a fleet of 4,000 trailers and containers. They also owns a rail terminal in the Romanian city of Oradea, which facilitates the onward movement of goods to Britain from Asian countries via the Silk Road.