Crew members who worked for P&O Ferries until almost a year ago, had lost their jobs suddenly in a mass sacking of almost 800 seafarers, however they fear a similar scandal could reoccur.

This month marks a year since the ferry company cancelled all services on the 17th March with P&O instructing their ferries to remain in ports on the Irish Sea, Strait of Dover and North Sea. Among the affected routes were Dublin-Liverpool and Larne-Cairnryan.

This followed the firing of almost a third of its workforce with the company claiming they would go bust otherwise. In a statement released at the time, P&O said they were flagging a £100 million loss year on year and that the company said it “is not a viable business”.

The move was widely condemned by unions among them the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) workers, the public and politicians alike with the UK Government announcing that it would vow to improve protections for British seafarers.

Following the crew debacle almost 12 months on, a new law ensuring all marine workers operating regularly in UK waters is being passed. The new legislation at Westminster, is designed so to deter companies from firing and rehiring staff.

According to RMT union representative, Lee Davison, a former P&O ferry crew member has said the Seafarers Wages Bill lacks teeth.

For more, ITV News reports on this story where the Bill forms part of a nine point plan to improve the pay and conditions of seafarers.

The boss of a UK trade union has said it is “beyond belief” that a ferry firm which “unlawfully sacked 800 workers and has employed cheap agency labour to maximise profits is winning travel awards”.

P&O Ferries which earlier this year sparked outrage after firing without notice almost 800 staff and seafarers working on the Irish Sea, the Strait of Dover and North Sea, was named at the British Travel Awards as the best company for short sea/mini cruises.

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime & Transport (RMT) union said: “It is beyond belief that a company that unlawfully sacked 800 workers and has employed cheap agency labour to maximise profits is winning travel awards.

“The treatment of UK seafarers by P&O Ferries and their DP World owners was one of the worst acts of industrial vandalism ever seen in the industry.

He added “They should not be operating as a business in Britain and rather than receiving awards, P&O bosses should be handed jail sentences for what they did to our members.”

It was in March when P&O Ferries (owned and based in Dubai UAE) had sacked nearly 800 seafarers and replaced its crews with cheaper agency workers that took place on the Larne-Cairnyran and Dublin-Liverpool routes.

In addition the sackings involved the operator's network between the UK and France, on the short Dover-Calais run aswell to the UK-Netherlands with their longest route between Hull and Rotterdam.

A spokesman for the British Travel Awards said: “I can’t comment on an individual company’s policies.”

More from the Belfast Telegraph and P&O's tweet in response to winning an award category. 

Ships which regularly come into UK ports along with seafarers will now be paid the minimum wage.

The government has introduced a new bill to stop firms using legal loopholes to pay low wages, following the P&O Ferries mass sackings.

The Government says the company's decision to dismiss 800 'loyal and hardworking workers' without consultation or notice, resulted in ministers taking immediate action to begin changing the law on seafarer pay protection.

The Seafarers’ Wages Bill, introduced in the House of Lords on Wednesday (6 July), enables port authorities to deny access to services calling regularly at UK ports which do not pay workers equivalent rate to the UK National Minimum Wage (NMWe) for time spent in UK waters – closing a legal loophole which was exploited by P&O Ferries.

Maritime Minister Robert Courts said: “Britain’s rich maritime history and exciting future is thanks to the extraordinary men and women who work at sea. 

“Fair pay for seafarers is a must, and the new laws we’ve introduced in Parliament today send a clear signal to operators that the UK will not let seafarers be priced out of their jobs by rogue bosses.” 

Following P&O Ferries’ mass sackings in March, the Government launched a consultation on the Seafarers’ Wages Bill in May 2022.

More here ITV News reports on the new seafarers wage bill.

The UK Government says it has cancelled a contract with P&O Ferries "with immediate effect" in its latest action against the DP World-owned company following its decision to axe hundreds of staff earlier this year.

The Home Office said it was ending its agreement with the firm to provide contingency travel services to "juxtaposed ports" where British staff operate border controls in Belgium and France to check passengers and freight destined for Britain.

It comes after P&O Ferries, whose ships sail across the English Channel, North Sea and Irish Sea, laid off nearly 800 workers in March and then went on to hire cheaper agency staff.

The move sparked criticism from trade unions and politicians alike.

RTE News has more on the development. 

In the UK, the head of the Trades Union Congress has written to the Insolvency Service calling for it to disqualify the directors of P&O Ferries after they sacked nearly 800 crew without notice.

In a letter seen by The Guardian, Frances O’Grady, the TUC’s general secretary, said the Insolvency Service should “initiate disqualification proceedings against the directors of P&O Ferries Division Holdings Limited”.

The Insolvency Service last month confirmed it had “initiated both formal criminal and civil investigations” into the circumstances of the redundancies, after making inquiries at the request of the government.

P&O Ferries caused outrage when it fired 786 workers with immediate effect on 17 March, despite no notice or consultation with unions, as required under company law. The company, which is owned by Dubai-based DP World, instead said it would replace those workers with lower-paid agency staff.

A week later, Peter Hebblethwaite, the chief executive of P&O Ferries, admitted to astonished MPs that its directors “chose not to” consult workers despite acknowledging there was “absolutely no doubt we were required to consult with the unions”.

His testimony prompted MPs to ask whether he was a “shameless criminal”, but he insisted he would “make this decision again”

The Guardian has more on the story.  

At the Port of Dover a second P&O ferry has passed its safety inspection, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has said.

The Pride of Kent can now join the Spirit of Britain, which the MCA cleared to sail on 23 April, after it was detained for two weeks.

Safety fears were raised after P&O replaced nearly 800 seafarers with cheaper agency staff in March.

P&O tweeted on Monday evening that it would be running a one ship schedule until 12 May.

A spokesperson for the MCA said: "The Pride of Kent has been released from detention and can commence operations when P&O Ferries are ready."

They added no further inspections of P&O ferries are planned at the moment, but will be carried out at the request of the company.

BBC News has more here. 

Operator P&O Ferries will restart its Dover-Calais sailings for tourists for the first time since sacking nearly 800 seafarers.

The ferry firm said its ship Spirit of Britain will leave Dover for Calais at 4.05pm on Tuesday (yesterday, May 3).

It comes after it resumed freight-only sailings on the key route between the UK and France on April 26.

Spirit of Britain is the only ship the company can currently use for its cross-Channel operations.

It was cleared to sail on April 22 after being detained 11 days earlier, when 23 failures were found by Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) inspectors.

More from the Irish Examiner on the story. 

The operator P&O Ferries has announced it is preparing to restart sailings “from this weekend” on routes suspended since it sacked nearly 800 seafarers.

As Independent.ie writes, the firm revealed plans to resume operations for four of its ships.

It has been prevented from running all but one of its vessels since it announced widespread redundancies on March 17.

It has already resumed Dublin to Liverpool sailings.

The company sparked outrage by replacing its crews with cheaper agency workers, without notice.

A spokesman for the firm said: “From this weekend, P&O Ferries are getting ready to resume services across a number of vital routes.

“P&O has been working closely with regulators to ensure our ships are safe to sail.

“P&O is looking forward to welcoming back vital services and we expect to have two of our vessels ready to sail on the Dover/Calais route by next week, subject to regulatory sign-off, namely both the Pride of Kent and Spirit of Britain between Dover/Calais.

More from the newspaper in addition BBC News coverage on the Strait of Dover service as the ferries will need to pass inspections by the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) before services can resume.

Ferry company Stena Line has been forced to suspend sailings between Rosslare and Fishguard until 12 April, to plug gap left by P&O Ferries between Larne and Cairnryan.

As ITV news reports, P&O’s two ships – the European Causeway and the European Highlander – haven’t sailed on the route since the company sacked all 800 staff on St Patrick’s Day.

It caused a freight backlog on a key route used to bring goods into Northern Ireland.

As a result, Stena Line moved the Stena Nordica onto the route as an extra freight ship from its (temporary) Dublin to Holyhead service.

It was replaced on that route by the Stena Europe – which had been sailing between Rosslare-Fishguard.

Afloat.ie adds Stena Europe has since last month, operated as second ship on the Dublin-Holyhead route along with Stena Adventurer. This led to the route's other routine ferry, Stena Estrid to transfer to the Rosslare-Cherbourg route

While the Ireland-France route ferry Stena Horizon dry-docks at Harland & Wolff, Belfast, as alluded in the ITV coverage which has more. 

Operator P&O Ferries faces a probe, reports BBC News, into the controversial no-notice sackings of nearly 800 members of staff.

The Insolvency Service has launched criminal and civil investigations into the circumstances around the redundancies.

In a letter, it said it would consider "prompt and appropriate action" if the law was broken.

Grant Shapps has also asked the service to consider disqualifying its boss from acting as a company director.

The transport secretary made the announcement as part of new pay plans for the ferry industry this week after P&O Ferries sacked 786 employees without notice and replaced with them with agency workers.

P&O Ferries said on Friday that all but one of the sacked employees had taken steps to accept the redundancy offer made by the company. One former P&O worker, John Lansdown, told the BBC he did not respond to the company's offer.

The company declined to comment on the Insolvency Service's investigation when approached by BBC News.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng tweeted that he and Mr Shapps would follow the new investigations into P&O Ferries closely as they develop.

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