Freight transport between England and the European mainland is disrupted by a strike at the ferry services of British P&O Ferries. The largest British shipping company is on the brink of bankruptcy and has dismissed the crews of its entire fleet.
P&O operates not only the main Calais – Dover route but also the line connection IJmuiden-Newcastle, and furthermore runs the Hull-Rotterdam connection. The other two Dutch services to England are operated by DFDS (IJmuiden to Newcastle) and Stena Line (Hook of Holland to Harwich). Transporters are already rerouting trucks to other ferry companies.
Together with the Eurotunnel, this short Channel route accounts for 90 percent of British-European freight traffic. Additionally, P&O is also an important player in freight transport over the North Sea and the Irish Sea.
British exporters express concern about the consequences. The ships are currently docked, and the crews are so far refusing to hand the ships over. Replacement Eastern European crews have now been hired through a booking agency in Malta. That agency’s name previously appeared in the Panama Papers.
The Dutch entrepreneurs’ association for trade and logistics, evofenedex, had already expressed fears over the consequences of the abrupt stoppage of ferry services.
P&O Ferries has nearly 4,000 employees and received £33 million in emergency government funding to ensure freight continued sailing during the coronavirus pandemic. The company states that due to the near halt of goods and passenger transport over the past two years caused by corona, it is now hundreds of millions of British pounds in the red.
British trade unions say the hired Eastern European staff are working for a tenth of the normal wages, and claim that P&O should repay the millions in corona support it received.