The UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said the boss of P&O Ferries should resign after his "brazen" and "breathtaking" comments about "knowingly breaking the law".

It comes after chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite admitted the company broke employment law when it sacked 800 workers without notice.

The Transport Secretary told Sky News this morning: "I thought what the boss of P&O said yesterday about knowingly breaking the law was brazen and breathtaking, and showed incredible arrogance.

"I cannot believe that he can stay in that role having admitted to deliberately go out and use a loophole - well, break the law, but also use a loophole."

Pressed on whether that meant he was calling for Mr Hebblethwaite to resign "right now", he said: "Yes."

Mr Shapps also said the Government is planning to change the law to ensure companies working from British ports pay people the minimum wage.

Yesterday, Mr Hebblethwaite was urged by MPs to quit after acknowledging there is "absolutely no doubt" the ferry operator was required to consult with trade unions.

The company replaced its crews with cheaper agency workers last week.

More RTE News has here to read on this development.  

The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said today he believed that P&O Ferries had broken the law by sacking 800 staff with immediate effect via video message.

Boris Johnson said the UK government would take legal action against the company.

P&O, which is owned by Dubai ports firm DP World, said last week it had lost £100m in the last year and that without changes its business was not sustainable.

"It looks to me as though the company concerned has broken the law, and we will be taking action - and we will be encouraging workers themselves to take action under the 1996 Employment Rights Act," he told the Commons (see Labour Party vote & related story).

P&O Ferries operated four routes: Dover to Calais; Hull to Rotterdam; Liverpool to Dublin; and Cairnryan in Scotland to Larne in Northern Ireland.

More from RTE News including Irish staff at P&O's terminal in Dublin Port.  

As Afloat previously reported on Sunday, P&O reopened sailings on the Liverpool-Dublin route (albeit using only one of two ropax ferries). This involved the Dutch-flagged Norbank, as these seafarers are not part of the dispute due to different employment law based in the Netherlands. 

Workers of P&O Ferries left jobless by their employer have been urged to apply for positions with Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac). 

CalMac's managing director Robbie Drummond said in a statement he was "shocked" by the news 800 seafarers had been thrown out by P&O yesterday without notice.

And he invited them to come and work for him instead. He said: "We at CalMac were shocked and saddened to hear about the redundancies at P&O Ferries. This is an awful situation for our many ferry industry colleagues.

"We have vacancies currently available, including a number of deck ratings and seaman pursers required to start in April, and would encourage anyone affected to apply as soon as possible."

There are currently 16 deck ratings vacancies and one spot for a seaman purser.

P&O operates UK-mainland Europe routes in addition between Scotland and Northern Ireland via Cairnryan-Larne and on the Irish Sea the Dublin-Liverpool link (see Blackpool related story). 

The National has more on the story including vacancies currently with CalMac which Afloat adds is a subsidiary of the Scottish goverment owned David MacBrayne.

Operator P&O Ferries and its parent company DP World should be "in no doubt" that the British government is considering its links with them following the mass sacking of 800 seafarers, Tory chairman Oliver Dowden has said.

Protesters will march on the Tory spring conference in Blackpool, England, to register their outrage at the sudden announcement.

Labour has urged the government to publish the legal advice it received on whether P&O broke the law when it sacked the workers on Thursday.

P&O operates a ferry service across the Irish Sea from Liverpool to Dublin and Larne in Northern Ireland to Cairnryan in Scotland, as well as ferries from England to France.

The Opposition asked if there are legal moves ministers could take to reverse the decision to make so many staff redundant without consultation.

It also published analysis of data it said shows P&O Ferries has received £38.3m in Government contracts since December 2018.

For more, RTE News has coverage. 

Ferry firm P&O face a growing backlash against the company after it sacked 800 staff without giving them any notice.

The UK government said it would review its contracts with P&O Ferries after it fired its employees, planning to replace them with cheaper agency staff.

Unions hit out against the dismissal, saying it marked a "dark day" in the shipping industry.

P&O said it was a "tough" decision but it would "not be a viable business" without the changes.

A chorus of cross-party MPs, however, described P&O Ferries' actions as "callous" and "disgraceful".

Nearly a quarter of P&O Ferries' staff were told via a video message on Thursday that it was their "final day of employment".

The RMT union said it was one of the "most shameful acts in the history of British industrial relations". There are protests planned on Friday across the ports of Dover, Liverpool, Hull and at Larne Port as Afloat previously reported.

For much more, BBC News reports on this development facing ferry workers. 

This vacancy has been filled - February 1 2021

P&O Maritime Services is a global company providing specialist maritime service solution through ownership, operation and management of a fleet of specialised vessels.

In Ireland, we manage Ireland's Marine Science vessels 'RV Celtic Explorer' and 'RV Celtic Voyager'.

Based in Galway, the Marine Technical Co-Ordinator will be responsible for Technical procurement and assist the Technical Manager with ship and scientific related projects.

Requirements:

• Relevant Bachelor of Engineering qualification or equivalent.
• It would be advantageous to have a minimum of 3 years relevant experience onboard ship as Engineer – preferably having a 2nd Engineer COC.
• Workshop & Fabrication skills plus a working knowledge of CAD / Engineering Drawing.
• Strong negotiation and communication skills.
• A background of working within an asset management role is desirable but not essential.
• Good Computer skills and experience with a computerized PMS / Purchase ordering system.

For a full job description or to apply for this role please send CV and covering letter to [email protected]

#ferries- Operator P&O Ferries is suing the UK government over its £33m settlement with Eurotunnel, in the latest controversy over the Department for Transport’s (DfT) fraught no-deal Brexit preparations.

As writes The Guardian, the department was forced into the £33m payout after failing to include Eurotunnel in its agreements with ferry operators to provide emergency cross-Channel services, including the scrapped contract with Seaborne Freight. (Afloat adds see related Arklow Shipping story). 

The DfT had signed deals worth £89m with Brittany Ferries and DFDS to secure routes for vital goods in the event of no deal, with forecasts of massive congestion on the routes to Dover and Calais where most freight traffic flows.

Now P&O is contesting the compensation awarded to Eurotunnel, claiming it leaves its ferry service facing an unfair disadvantage.

Further reading on the story can be read here. 

#ferries - On board a passenger ferry a fire broke out when berthed in Larne Port yesterday, just months after lorries toppled over on the same P&O ship.

As The Irish News reports, emergency services were tasked to a blaze in the engine room of the European Causeway ship at around 4.30pm on Sunday, but no injuries were reported and everyone was accounted for.

The fire was extinguished by the ship's crew and internal fire suppression system, according to the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service, but three fire engines attended the scene.

The European Causeway passenger ferry operates between Larne and Cairnryan in Scotland.

For more on the story including a previous incident which involved vehicles overturning on the ferry deck in December, click here. 

#P&O 175th ANNIVERSARY – The cruiseship Arcadia (2005/83,781grt) sailed into Dublin Port after an overnight passage from Southampton, where P&O celebrated their 175th anniversary on Tuesday with a spectacular parade of the fleet billed as the 'Grand Event', writes Jehan Ashmore.

Dublin Port is the first port of call since the 2,388 passenger (maximum) capacity Arcadia departed her homeport on a 14-night adult-only round trip cruise to Iceland. She and six cruiseships of the P&O Cruise fleet formed the impressive sail past down the Solent to where they each went their separate ways on cruising intineries.

The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, better known throughout the world as P&O was established in 1837. The famous company's colourful house-flag is flown on the P&O Cruises fleet and P&O Ferries operating out of the UK. The flag is also depicted as the funnel colours of the ferry fleet and incorporates the royal colours of Spain (red and gold) and Portugal (blue and white) which relate to the older traditional colours representing the monarchy.

In 2005 P&O was sold to Dubai based DP World for £3.3 billion, which operates P&O Ferries, while the cruise division was sold off to Carnival UK, a subsidiary of the US owned Carnival Corporation which among its many companies includes Cunard Line. The Arcadia and her fleetmates are under the P&O Cruise brand and the cruiseships also fly the house-flag under license.

The origins of P&O though can be traced as far back to 1815 when Brodie McGhie Wilcox engaged Arthur Anderson to become a ship clerk in his brokerage business in London. The Lime Street based brokerage initially chartered vessels and the business grew so by 1823 Anderson was made a partner to form Wilcox and Anderson. They embarked on a sail-cargo service from London to the Iberian Peninsula.

In 1835 the timber-built passenger and cargoship paddle steamer William Fawcett was chartered from the Dublin and London Steam Packet Company. The 206-tonne vessel gave a top speed of 10 knots, noting that she had two sailing masts fore and aft of the steamer's funnel.

William Fawcett is regarded to be the first ship in the P&O fleet, the steamer with the Irish connection carried the government contract to carry 'mails' to Iberia. The company secured more contracts and rapid expansion to the Orient, where the house-flag reached India, Ceylon, Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia. This led to many ships built and not just confined to cargoships, notably the liners with passengers travelling Port-Out and Starboard-Home...how POSH indeed!

It was fitting to see Arcadia arrive into a flat-calm Dublin Bay as she entered from the southern approaches off Dalkey Island, where paddle-steamers such as William Fawcett would of sailed past heading for London. Her modern short-sea successor in the form of P&O Ferries ro-pax European Endeavour (2000/ 22,125grt) was also arriving into the bay off the Baily lighthouse from Liverpool.

Arcadia cost £200m to build and when the vessel was laid down at the Fincantieri Cant. Nav. Italiani SpA shipyard in Monfalcone, she was originally the Queen Victoria for Cunard Line. It was however decided that the newbuild would be renamed Arcadia as she was transferred by Carnival to the P&O Cruises brand and given a traditional name.

To read more about the company, the ships and much more visit www.poheritage.com

#FERRY NEWS - With winds of up to 100mph, Scottish ferry sailings on the North Channel routes from Northern Ireland, have been affected with two cancellations on Stena's Belfast-Cairnryan services, according to Channel 4 News.

P&O had no reported cancellations on its Irish Sea routes but is advising passengers to check in normally and expect delays. In addition some Scottish domestic ferry services were cancelled on some routes operated by Caledonian MacBrayne, while other services were disrupted.

To read more about the weather disruption across the Scottish central belt remains which remains on-high alert for storms while Northern Ireland and the north of England are subject to a severe weather warning click HERE. For the latest weather visit www.metoffice.gov.uk/

Sailing updates from Stena Line's Belfast-Cairnryan service can be viewed by clicking HERE and for information on delays on Belfast-Liverpool service click HERE. For sailing updates on routes operated by P&O click this LINK.

For the rest of the Irish Sea ferry routes, including those operated by Stena Line and Irish Ferries it would be also advisable to check each route from the operator's websites.

Irish Ferries Dublin Swift fast-ferry sailings to and from Holyhead have been cancelled, though cruiseferry sailings remain operating. To keep updated visit the 24hrs sailing update posted on the homepage of www.irishferries.com and for Irish weather coverage by visiting www.met.ie