P&O Ferries - mass redundancies without consultation

[Baxenden Bank]

Hard to say whether there was a plan. Maybe they thought the safety checks would be nodded through otherwise the timing - not long before Easter was wrong. What was wrong with mid January?

Maybe they thought the government would be distracted by other things, instead the government has acted tough (or appeared to) to try to distract us from a range of other matters (we all know what they are).

What would be interesting to know is whose idea/ plan it was. P & O Ferries must be losing even more money now. According to South East Today (BBC local TV), there are no plans to recheck the ferries currently and the replacements for the seven drunk staff will need to be recruited and trained.

Rechecking happens when the company asks for it (and assuming the inspectors then have a window in their diary!), rather than the MCA setting a timetable for compliance. The MCA won't (and shouldn't) be concerned whether these ships ever sail again or not, only that when they do, they are safe to do so. The owners have the incentive to comply or their asset earns nothing. It would be a terrible shame if, when asked, all the inspectors happended to be on a months accrued leave or training!

The longer it lasts, the more permanent the temporary alternative arrangements will become. Perhaps someone thought the MCA woud just rollover and allow any old arrangements to avoid the bad publicity of delays at ports.

If I were a former staff member I would be hurrying up any enhanced severance payment, just in case the company goes bust and I then had to fall back on statutory redundancy terms.

 

[Cletus]

The 1st P&O ferry in Dover has passed its MCA inspection.

 

[Ediswan]

The 1st P&O ferry in Dover has passed its MCA inspection.

Spirit of Britain is in a berth.

 

[43055]

BBC evening news has reported that some of the agency workers contacts have ended and P&O are trying to sign them onto new contracts for less!

Also full service has resumed on the Cairnryan - Larne route.

P&O resumes full Cairnryan - Larne service

The sailings were disrupted for several weeks after the company sacked 800 workers last month.

www.bbc.co.uk

P&O resumes full Cairnryan - Larne service​

Published2 hours ago
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IMAGE SOURCE,BILLY MCCRORIE
Image caption,
The European Highlander runs between Cairnryan in Dumfries and Galloway and Larne in County Antrim
P&O Ferries says it has resumed a full service between Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Cairnryan - Larne sailings were disrupted for several weeks after the company sacked 800 workers last month.
It led to protests and warnings from unions that they could try to blockade Cairnryan and persuade customers to boycott the company.
The ferry company revealed the return to normal sailings in a tweet to customers on Sunday morning.

• P&O Cairnryan to Larne ferry stopped from sailing
• Port blockade warning over P&O Ferries sackings
• P&O sacking is hammer blow to Scotland, says union

Staff were informed they were losing their jobs with immediate effect in a pre-recorded video message on 17 March.
It led to the immediate cancellation of services on many P&O routes. A partial service began running between Cairnryan and Larne on 11 April.
P&O planned to replace the workers with cheaper agency staff, with bosses says it would not be a viable business without the changes.
Senior management at the firm came in for sharp criticism for the move, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson among those calling for the resignation of P&O boss Peter Hebblethwaite.
He admitted to MPs that he broke the law by not consulting workers but said he would do the same again if he had to.

IMAGE SOURCE,PA MEDIA
Image caption,
Protestors gathered outside the P&O Ferries terminal at Cairnryan following the sackings
Two vessels are used regularly on the route - the European Highlander and the European Causeway.
The European Causeway was detained for two weeks over safety concerns following an inspection by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).
When inspectors examined the European Highlander last week, they found a "small number of deficiencies" which had to be put right before it could come back into service.
On Sunday, the MCA said: "The outstanding deficiencies on the European Highlander have now been rectified and vessel is free to fully resume service."
Both ferries were operating on the route on Sunday, according to data on the VesselFinder website.
BBC Scotland has contacted P&O Ferries for comment.

 

[jon0844]

The rush to the bottom seems to be a gift that keeps on giving.

Do you think this is how P & O Ferries though it would pan out? Is it another part of their cunning plan!

Does the management team do any consulting for Putin on the side by any chance?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

That's not quite the whole story...

P&O Ferries hits back at staff pay cut claim

The firm says it has not asked recently-employed agency workers to sign new contracts with reduced wages.

www.bbc.co.uk

However, P&O Ferries said there had been an "administrative misunderstanding" around a contract presented to one individual who appeared to have been "unaware of an appendix which made clear that he would be entitled to an additional £195 a month, meaning that there was no change in his overall pay".
A spokesman said the company had contacted the MCA "to request that they withdraw their statement, which is misleading". The MCA said the complaint from the seafarer had been upheld.
"We will continue to comply fully with any national minimum wage obligations introduced by the UK government," P&O added.

There was an interesting documentary on this morning on the inside of ferry operation, worth a watch.

BBC One - Dom Digs In, Series 1 (Shortened Versions), Ferries

Dom takes to the high seas on the crucial ferry link between Belfast and the UK mainland.

www.bbc.co.uk

It had Dom Littlewood trying his hand at a spell of a several jobs on board and in port, mostly on Stena's Cairnryan-Belfast run.
This was from 2021, so before the P&O Ferries issue.
It all looked very professional on board.


EDIT:

The BBC is reporting an incident with P&O Ferries' European Causeway on the Larne-Cairnryan run, involving loss of power.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-61229753

The European Causeway, which can carry up to 410 passengers, is about five miles off Larne Harbour.
It left Cairnryan at about 12:00 BST and was due to arrive at Larne Harbour at 14:00.
P&O said the incident occurred due to a mechanical issue in the Irish Sea and a full inspection will take place when the ship is back in port.
Tugs from Larne and Belfast have been deployed to guide it back to port, P&O tweeted.
An RNLI lifeboat was also launched to the vessel.

.

Marine Traffic also shows the assisting craft, and Cunard's Queen Victoria is also on the scene.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Hmmm...

P&O Ferries: European Causeway ferry faces Larne inspection after power loss

The European Causeway, which can carry 410 passengers, spent hours adrift off the coast of Larne.

www.bbc.co.uk

A P&O ferry, which operates between Larne and Cairnryan, is adrift off the coast of Larne.

The European Causeway, which can carry up to 410 passengers, is about five miles off Larne Harbour.
It left Cairnryan at about 12:00 BST and was due to arrive at Larne Harbour at 14:00.
P&O said the incident occurred due to a mechanical issue in the Irish Sea and a full inspection will take place when the ship is back in port.
Tugs from Larne and Belfast have been deployed to guide it back to port, P&O tweeted.
RNLI lifeboat from Larne and Red Bay were launched to the vessel.
It is understood the Queen Victoria cruise ship, en route to Belfast for a refit, is also on site, along with a coastguard helicopter from Prestwick.

 

[Ediswan]

Hmmm...

P&O Ferries: European Causeway ferry faces Larne inspection after power loss

The European Causeway, which can carry 410 passengers, spent hours adrift off the coast of Larne.

www.bbc.co.uk

Now berthed in Larne.

 

[Typhoon]

Cheaper agency workers hired by P&O Ferries to replace sacked seafarers did not know how to use life-saving appliances, according to a new report.

A total of 23 failures on Spirit of Britain were found by Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) inspectors - six of which had grounds for detention.

Fast rescue boats were not properly maintained and oil filtering equipment was not working.

There were also five deficiencies with working conditions, and five relating to fire safety systems.

Spirit of Britain - which sails the Dover to Calais route - was detained following the inspection on April 11, before being cleared to sail on April 22.
...

The 23 safety failures were listed without further details by the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which is an alliance of 27 national maritime authorities including the UK.

It stated there was a “lack of familiarity” with the “operation of life-saving appliances”, which could relate to equipment such as rescue boats, lifeboats, life-jackets or flares.

I don't think P & O could argue that the decision by the inspectors was wrong.

Full story: https://www.kentonline.co.uk/dove...know-how-to-use-life-saving-equipment-266317/

 

[jfollows]

P&O restarting Dover-Calais with a "reduced timetable" today and a "normal timetable" tomorrow.

P&O brings back passengers on cross-Channel route after sackings

Tuesday marks the first time that drive-on passengers and tourists can use P&O in almost six weeks.

www.bbc.co.uk

That's 47 days since March 17th. when the mass sackings took place.

P&O brings back passengers on cross-Channel route after sackings

P&O Ferries is restarting Dover-Calais passenger crossings for the first time since it controversially sacked hundreds of employees with no notice.

The ferry operator says it is operating a reduced timetable on Tuesday, with a normal timetable resuming on Wednesday.

The Spirit of Britain is the only ferry in service on the route so tickets are limited.

It comes after P&O sacked almost 800 seafarers in March to replace them with cheaper agency workers.

Tuesday marks the first time that drive-on passengers and tourists will have been able to use the service in almost six weeks. The Spirit of Britain will leave Dover for Calais at 16:05.

It has been crossing the English channel for just under a week, carrying freight-only traffic.

It is the only ship the company can currently use for its cross-Channel operations and was cleared to sail on 22 April after being detained 11 days earlier, when 23 failures were found by Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) inspectors.

The MCA has confirmed that it is carrying out a reinspection of Pride of Kent, at the request of P&O Ferries, which also operates on the Dover-Calais route.

The company used to have four ferries in operation on this route, so it is still below its normal operating capacity. The other two ferries, the Pride of Canterbury and the Spirit of France, are still out of action.

P&O Ferries was widely condemned by politicians, trade unions and the public after replacing nearly 800 crew members with cheaper agency staff on 17 March.

It suspended most of its operations following the decision, with delays and increased traffic seen around the Port of Dover as a result around the Easter holidays.

When P&O Ferries sacked its staff, the company said the move was to ensure the future of the business.

Passenger services have already resumed on its three other UK routes, which are between Liverpool and Dublin, Ireland; between Cairnryan, Scotland and Larne, Northern Ireland; and between Hull and Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Last week, another P&O Ferries ship spent hours adrift without power in the Irish Sea.

P&O said the incident was caused by a "temporary mechanical issue" that had been resolved.

The European Causeway ferry was ordered to remain at Larne Port until it passes another inspection.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

P&O restarting Dover-Calais with a "reduced timetable" today and a "normal timetable" tomorrow.
That's 47 days since March 17th. when the mass sackings took place.

I don't think the service will be "normal" until 3 ships are operating.
One ship can only operate a 6-hour cycle, if that.

 

[Ediswan]

I don't think the service will be "normal" until 3 ships are operating.
One ship can only operate a 6-hour cycle, if that.

The full fleet would normally be five ships (2 x Spirit, 3 x Pride). I'm reasonably certain they used to advertise a departure from Dover every 45 minutes. Has anybody got an old summer timetable to hand ?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The full fleet would normally be five ships (2 x Spirit, 3 x Pride). I'm reasonably certain they used to advertise a departure from Dover every 45 minutes. Has anybody got an old summer timetable to hand ?

The European Rail Timetable shows 18 return P&O crossings a day, at intervals down to 65 minutes but more often 80-90 minutes (fewer at night).
So yes, you'd need 5 ships for the full frequency.

 

[Typhoon]

16:00 - Spirit of Britain sailed from Dover with passengers.

However the Pride of Kent has failed its most recent inspection (again - EDIT: according to Radio Kent for the third time and for exactly the same reasons as last time - safety and crew documentation).

(News story on South East Today - BBC1).

 

[BayPaul]

I don't think the service will be "normal" until 3 ships are operating.
One ship can only operate a 6-hour cycle, if that.

The traditional cycle was 5 return sailings per day per ship. I think it was a 90 min crossing and 45 min turn, with an extended stop overnight to allow for drills and maintenance. That allowed 45-60 min gaps between ships with 5 in service. Since the sale of European Seaway, I think the plan is to go down to just 4 regular ships, plus Pride of Burgandy in a back up /freight role, so probably 60-75 mins between sailings once/if the full fleet is in service.

The full fleet would normally be five ships (2 x Spirit, 3 x Pride). I'm reasonably certain they used to advertise a departure from Dover every 45 minutes. Has anybody got an old summer timetable to hand

 

[Ediswan]

so probably 60-75 mins between sailings once/if the full fleet is in service.

Thanks. Actual departure times being unavoidably weather dependant. My personal record weather delay is 4-5 hours. A late evening sailing was delayed to past midnight. Genuine 'seagulls flying backwards' conditions. On the bright side, Costa Coffee did re-open well after their usual hours.

 

[Western Lord]

From what I've read, some of the problems with the ships look like poor maintenance of things which cannot have deteriorated much during the short lay up, so doesn't say much for the previous crew's standards. One wonders how many other operator's ships would fail a "fine tooth comb" inspection from the MCA.

 

[Dai Corner]

From what I've read, some of the problems with the ships look like poor maintenance of things which cannot have deteriorated much during the short lay up, so doesn't say much for the previous crew's standards. One wonders how many other operator's ships would fail a "fine tooth comb" inspection from the MCA.

What sort of things were picked up on?

Maybe the wage bill was so high there was insufficient money for maintenance?

 

[Western Lord]

What sort of things were picked up on?

Maybe the wage bill was so high there was insufficient money for maintenance?

The list I've seen contains, among other things:-
Fast rescue boats -not properly maintained
Fixed fire fighting system - not properly maintained
Winches and capstans - not as required
Medical equipment - life expired
Oil filtration system - not working
Railings, gangways and walkways - not properly maintained
As I said, hardly likely to have deteriorated much during the short lay up.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The list I've seen contains, among other things:-
Fast rescue boats -not properly maintained
Fixed fire fighting system - not properly maintained
Winches and capstans - not as required
Medical equipment - life expired
Oil filtration system - not working
Railings, gangways and walkways - not properly maintained
As I said, hardly likely to have deteriorated much during the short lay up.

So in essence they've learnt nothing from the Herald of Free Enterprise. Appalling; there should be scope to close them down entirely over this sort of thing.

 

[43096]

So in essence they've learnt nothing from the Herald of Free Enterprise. Appalling; there should be scope to close them down entirely over this sort of thing.

You’d also question what was going on with previous MCA inspections as they presumably haven’t picked up on it.

 

[SargeNpton]

The list I've seen contains, among other things:-
Fast rescue boats -not properly maintained
Fixed fire fighting system - not properly maintained
Winches and capstans - not as required
Medical equipment - life expired
Oil filtration system - not working
Railings, gangways and walkways - not properly maintained
As I said, hardly likely to have deteriorated much during the short lay up.

These would all surely be management issues. If the ships' officers, and the company's senior management, have not been making sure that these have been in a good state of repair in the past then not only does the individual items need to brought up to scratch but the company-wide safety culture also needs to be fixed.

 

[BayPaul]

These would all surely be management issues. If the ships' officers, and the company's senior management, have not been making sure that these have been in a good state of repair in the past then not only does the individual items need to brought up to scratch but the company-wide safety culture also needs to be fixed.

You’d also question what was going on with previous MCA inspections as they presumably haven’t picked up on it.

So in essence they've learnt nothing from the Herald of Free Enterprise. Appalling; there should be scope to close them down entirely over this sort of thing.

From what I've read, some of the problems with the ships look like poor maintenance of things which cannot have deteriorated much during the short lay up, so doesn't say much for the previous crew's standards. One wonders how many other operator's ships would fail a "fine tooth comb" inspection from the MCA.

Most probably this is a combination of a very, very fine tooth comb inspection by tge MCA, coupled by a month or so of poor maintenance.

It is difficult to appreciate just how complex a large modern passenger vessel is. No matter how well maintained it is, there will always be a few things that don't work, that a serious inspector can pick up. At a guess, based on this list:

Fast rescue boats - awkward things to keep in perfect order. With the ship laid up moored alongside it isn't possible to launch one of the boats to test it properly

Fixed firefighting systems. Could be a single fault on a detector, or something more serious. The MCA would normally ignore the former, but if in a bad mood...

Winches do have a tendancy to develop minor faults, especially on hard working ships like these, and even more especially when they are suddenly kept moored up for an unusually long time.

Some medical supplies went out of date since the old crew disembarked, and were missed by the new crew. The amount of supplies on a passenger vessel are huge, so this is often fertile hunting ground for a surveyor looking to fail a ship.

Oil filtration systems are not my area of expertise, but I understand that they need regular maintenance, so probably something that has developed in the last few weeks.

Gangways and railings is a bit of a catch all category.

So this could be an indication of long term issues, but more likely due to the inexperienced crew and (quite correctly) harsh surveyor.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Just got a mail from P+O, North Sea crossings are starting again. I almost wish I could be at Hull for the 20:30 departure tomorrow 14.5.22.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Just got a mail from P+O, North Sea crossings are starting again. I almost wish I could be at Hull for the 20:30 departure tomorrow 14.5.22.

If you mean Hull-Rotterdam, the service never stopped.
One ship, not manned in the UK, continued to operate a half-service, and the second ship went back into service several weeks ago.
It's only Dover-Calais that doesn't have its fleet back, with just one ship in service for another week.

 

[AG1994]

You’d also question what was going on with previous MCA inspections as they presumably haven’t picked up on it.

Their surveyors are mostly ex-P&O officers so have very good relationships with those onboard, even non-P&O ones have been visiting these crews for decades and built a relationship. There was an attitude of minor failures being allowed to go unrecorded so long as they were genuinely fixed within an agreeable timeframe. I doubt major issues would have been treated the same.

So for the same reason the surveyors likely went into extreme detail since this saga developed as their friends had all been made redundant.

 

[Gloster]

Their surveyors are mostly ex-P&O officers so have very good relationships with those onboard, even non-P&O ones have been visiting these crews for decades and built a relationship. There was an attitude of minor failures being allowed to go unrecorded so long as they were genuinely fixed within an agreeable timeframe. I doubt major issues would have been treated the same.

So for the same reason the surveyors likely went into extreme detail since this saga developed as their friends had all been made redundant.

And in the past they may have felt that the faults would be rectified because they knew the people on board and trusted them to do the work. With a new crew, they have no idea how far they can be trusted to sort out minor points.

 

[AG1994]

And in the past they may have felt that the faults would be rectified because they knew the people on board and trusted them to do the work. With a new crew, they have no idea how far they can be trusted to sort out minor points.

Precisely. If a Chief Engineer said he’d get it fixed in 12 hours, it would be fixed in 12 hours.

Relationships like that were built over decades, and were built on the fact that between the 8 engineers onboard at all times there was normally 100+ years of combined experience onboard the Kent/Canterbury/Seaway/Burgundy at any one time.

Now there’s a combined few weeks of experience.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

P&O Ferries appear to have 2 ships operating now on the Dover-Calais run, and are offering something like half-service.

 

[brad465]

ITV have uncovered the impact on P&O since the sackings in March, including a 92% reduction in usage on the Dover-Calais route, with other routes down by a distinct but smaller proportion:

P&O Ferries struggles to win back customers 10 weeks after sacking 800 crew | ITV News

Two briefing slides, compiled by P&O Ferries, reveal the scale of the damage to the company’s business caused by its decision to sack its crew without warning. | ITV National News

www.itv.com

Two briefing slides, compiled by P&O Ferries, reveal the scale of the damage to the company’s business caused by its decision to sack its crew without warning in March and the disruption that followed.

The slides contain traffic data showing how many cars, caravans, coaches, motorcycles, lorries and foot passengers travelled on P&O’s ferries last week.

The figures were circulated as part of an internal P&O management meeting which took place on Teams on Monday and were later shared with ITV News.

The slides show that in the week ending Sunday, May 22, P&O carried 2,134 tourist vehicles between Dover and Calais - traditionally the company’s busiest and most lucrative route - a colossal 92% fall on the same week in 2018.

The number of daily tourist vehicles travelling on P&O’s other routes - Hull to Rotterdam (down 25%), Liverpool to Dublin (down 44%) and Larne to Cairnryan (down 50%) - was also significantly below pre-Covid pandemic levels.

“The [Dover-Calais] figures are absolutely abysmal,” a manager at P&O told me.

“We only had two [out of four] ships operating last week but even so, Port of Dover was busy but we weren’t, we’re not even covering fuel costs on some crossings. Everything is desperately down.”

P&O Ferries' decision to fire 786 of its crew without warning on March 17 was unusually brutal and attracted widespread public condemnation.

The company’s chief executive, Peter Hebblethwaite, admitted he chose to ignore the legal requirement to consult the unions in advance but he insisted the sackings were necessary to save the business.

The slides suggest P&O’s aggressive behaviour may have also damaged its commercial prospects.

P&O’s freight service across the English Channel has experienced a dramatic slump in trade.

Freight volumes on the busy route between Dover and Calais in the week ending Saturday, May 21, were up 32.3% on the previous week but from a very low base.

P&O’s two ferries carried only 3,022 freight vehicles, 87.7% less than the company had budgeted for.

The company’s freight services across the Irish Sea have been fully operational for several weeks but traffic on the Liverpool to Dublin crossing ran 19% below budget last week and traffic between Larne and Cairnryan was 17% below target.

By contrast, freight levels on P&O’s Hull to Rotterdam service have recovered.