Ferry firm to make 1,100 staff redundant
Around 1,100 workers at P&O Ferries are to be made redundant as part of a pan to make the business “viable and sustainable”, the company said.
The proposal involves more than a quarter of the workforce losin their jobs.
A spokesman for Doverbased P&O Ferries said: “Since the beginning of the crisis, P&O Ferries has been working with its stakeholders to address the impact of the loss of the passenger business.
“It is now clear that rightsizing the business is necessary to create a viable and sustainable P&O Ferries to get through Covid-19. “Regrettably, therefore, due to the reduced number of vessels we are operating and the ongoing downturn in business, we are beginning consultation proceedings with a proposal to make around 1,100 of our colleagues redundant.”
Jobs are at risk across all levels of the business, owned by DP World, which is based in Dubai.
P&O began operating ferries in the 1960s.
Before the pandemic, its ships carried 8.4 million passengers on 27,000 sailings a year across the Channel, North Sea and Irish Sea.