P&O Ferries announces plans to resume sailings

By Neil Lancefield, PA

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

The firm revealed plans to resume operations for four of its ships.

Larne to Cairnryan sailings are among those recommencing.

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

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.

“P&O are also expecting to be able to sail both the European Causeway, which runs between Larne and Cairnryan, and the Pride of Hull, which runs services between Hull and Rotterdam.”

He added: “We thank our customers for their patience during this time and we apologise to those customers whose journeys have been cancelled and disrupted.”

Two P&O ferries in the Port of Dover, Kent