New P&O calamity as ferry is left adrift
Blow for firm that controversially sacked 786
A P&O ferry was adrift for more than an hour yesterday in the latest embarrassing blow for the beleaguered firm.
The European Causeway, which can carry 410 passengers, suffered a ‘mechanical issue’ and lost power five miles off the coast of Larne in Northern Ireland.
It had left Cairnryan, in Scotland, at noon with an unknown number of passengers on board and had been due to reach Larne Harbour at around 2pm.
But it never arrived and was marooned in the Irish Sea, sparking a rescue mission by the RNLI and tug boats. The mammoth cruise ship Queen Victoria was also put on standby to help. The Marine Traffic website stated that European Causeway’s automatic identification system status had been set to ‘not under command’, used when a vessel is ‘unable to manoeuvre as required by these rules and is therefore unable to keep out of the way of another vessel’. P&O Ferries has been mired in controversy since it sacked 786 seafarers and replaced them with cheaper foreign agency staff last month.
A spokesman said the ship regained power and eventually travelled to Larne ‘under its own propulsion’.
The European Causeway had been detained at Larne after an initial inspection by regulator the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) on March 25 uncovered 31 safety failings.
But along with Spirit of Britain and Pride of Hull it was later cleared to sail.
Sources yesterday suggested that some of the crew are refusing to work on the vessel again over safety concerns that inexperienced engine room staff made the problem worse.
Five more P&O Ferries ships are yet to clear MCA inspections, ordered to ensure safety is not being put at risk by the jobs cull. It comes after the foreign agency workers who were hired to replace the 786 sacked staff claimed they were asked to sign new contracts on even lower pay. Some crew earn just £748 a month for a 40-hour week –barely £4.50 an hour.
An MCA spokesman said it was not concerned about passenger safety following ‘an earlier mechanical failure’.