Around 1,100 workers at P&O Ferries are to be made redundant as part of a plan to make the business “viable and sustainable”, the company has said.
A spokesman for 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 right-sizing 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.”
P&O Ferries operates ships across the English Channel, North Sea, and Irish Sea, and employs almost 4,000 members of staff. It carries 8.4 million passengers, 1.6 million cars, and 2.2 million freight units every year.
It is a leading pan-European ferry and logistics company, operating more than 20 vessels sailing 27,000 times a year on eight major routes including England to France, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Holland, and Belgium.