THE sacking by P&O Ferries of 800 seafarers imperils the UK’s world-leading maritime status and threatens to sink the country’s shipping heritage, former UK shipping minister Nusrat Ghani said.

The Conservative member of parliament said the DP World-owned company had undermined efforts to encourage young people to start UK maritime careers and destroyed the reputation of the 178-year-old British maritime institution.

“We need to make sure that this doesn’t set precedent for other maritime companies to conduct themselves in this vulgar way,” she told Lloyd’s List.

Ministers and unions have condemned the move and government ministers are examining whether the March 17 sackings complied with employment law. The UK government is also reviewing its contracts with P&O Ferries.

The wider implications for the UK maritime sector and logistics supply chains are now being debated, given the dominance of DP World in the UK.

The state-controlled, Dubai-owned company also owns the London Gateway and Southampton container and logistics terminals, two of the largest in the UK, from where they are starting two freeports in partnership with other port providers.

“This has damaged the shipping industry,” said Jos Sanderwick, chief executive of Maritime London, the trade association covering maritime professional services. “While P&O Ferries, like any business, has the right to restructure in order to return to profit, there’s no doubt the nature of the announcement seems to fall outside what might be described as the norms of a company operating in the UK.

“I really hope that lessons will be learned, and we don’t have an episode like this in the UK again.”

Most of the company’s 20 ferries and passengerships that transport some 10m passengers annually and carry 15% of UK freight remain inoperable. 

Cheaper replacement crew recruited by agencies need to be trained and vessels pass Maritime and Coastguard Agency inspections to ensure safety standards are met.

Unions joined protests in London today to have seafarers reinstated, amid reports that some agency crew had already quit their jobs because they weren’t told the circumstances under which they were hired.

Transport Minister Grant Shapps told parliament today that P&O Ferries had asked sacked staff to sign non-disclosure agreements “to keep employees quiet and pay them off”.

DP World, which first purchased P&O Ferries in 2006, sold it and bought it back in 2019, defended the mass sackings as a necessary reaction to annual losses exceeded $130m.

It made more than 800 staff redundant over 2020 and 2021 but did so in line with UK employment law, Mr Shapps said.

Most of the ferries are flagged in Cyprus, Bermuda, Bahamas and Netherlands. Ms Ghani said that although vessels were not British-flagged they operated in British waters and the government should claw back taxpayers’ money given to them during the pandemic.  

Ms Ghani was a popular shipping minister deemed one of the most effective in recent years by industry leaders until she lost the job in early 2020 in a politically motivated government reshuffle. She released the Maritime 2050 strategy in January 2019.  

The plan pledged to introduce a national minimum wage for all seafarers working in UK territorial waters within five years, to provide the same protection as land-based workers.

“This is not very good for brand UK, is it?” said Mr Sanderwick, adding that “it’s also damaged what is a great shipping brand.”

Ms Ghani said the Maritime 2050 plan was “now in serious peril”. Her views were also outlined on the Politics Home website.

Shipmanagers known to have provided recruitment services for P&O Ferries have declined to speak to Lloyd’s List about their role in replacing the 800 sacked staff.

Mark O’Neil, president of Columbia Shipmanagement, one of the world’s largest shipmanagers, did not respond to Lloyd’s List’s request for comment, made via the company’s public relations manager.

The company, via Latvia-based CSM Baltija, posted advertisements for UK ferry positions available from March 17, the day P&O Ferries sacked its staff in a three-minute, pre-recorded video call and immediately halted sailings.

Antonio Ciriale, whose February 2022-incorporated, Malta-based International Ferry Management was formed to replace and train crew, was tracked down at Valletta-based Mediterranean Shipping, where he is the main point of contact. He did not respond to texts and calls made to his phone.