The company’s security performance is expected to be considered “very low”, according to an analysis of an official international inspection database.
P&O previously had a “mediocre” rating – as measured by the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) – before firing 800 seafarers without consultation and replacing them with cheaper overseas crews.
P&O said in March that security was “our top priority”. The allegations that safety is at stake are “categorically false,” the pilot added.
The Paris MOU is an alliance of 27 national shipping authorities, including the United Kingdom. It has amassed tens of thousands of reports on every type of seagoing vessel in the last three years, from fishing boats to oil tankers and passenger ships.
Grant Shapps, Secretary of Transportation, has ordered Shipping and Coast Guard (MCA) officials to conduct security inspections on all P&O vessels before they are allowed to set sail again.
Only two of the carrier’s eight ferries were released in the weeks that followed. It is reported that P&O, whose final owner is the government of Dubai, expected to restart passenger ferry services within five days.
Reservations were imposed in four cases following the failure of the newly operated vessels to undergo inspections.
Since 2019, more than 1,200 inspections have been carried out. Ferries have been blocked only in 30 cases.
P & O’s Pride of Kent has been “port arrested” twice after failing two inspections. The most recent failure was last week, which came just 24 hours after Spirit of Dover, another cross-Channel ferry, was also deemed non-navigable.
The European Causeway failed its first inspection before being released by officials on April 8. The ship from Northern Ireland to Scotland initially had 31 defects, the highest number recorded according to the Paris PA database.
Experts have warned that a drop in P&O’s security rating could lead to a sharp rise in insurance costs.
A London-based Lloyd’s shipping broker said: “It is very rare for a ship to be in a ‘harbor arrest’. [It] makes them virtually uninsured until they pass again as safe.
“Even then, the cost will be high. POST OFFICE [Ferries] has been transformed from a very safe hazard into almost rubbish. “Second, because it is so publicly exposed, the risk of third party liability increases due to control.”
It is unclear when P&O will be fully operational with the new crews, who are paid almost half of the UK minimum wage. Mr Saps has pledged to impose a minimum wage on any shipping company operating in British waters.
P&O hoped to restart Channel services before Easter. This was considered ambitious by government sources, who had previously said they were unlikely to operate before May.
The cost of keeping P&O ferries booked, along with rising insurance costs and the dismissal bill, remains lower than the estimated bill for consulting militant unions.
The Financial Times reported that P&O had estimated it would cost 30 309 million to comply with UK law when reviewing its options before the layoffs.
The British company is estimated to have raised 80 80 million in costs since March 17, according to an analysis of Companies House archives. Compensation for the failure to consult staff before the redundancies cost 36 36.5 million.
P&O declined to comment.
Last month, he accused Coast Guard officials of “unprecedented level of rigor.”
