P&O Ferries cancels all Dover-Calais sailings this weekend

Company had hoped to resume crossings over Easter

The P&O Ferries vessel Spirit of Britain (right) moored at the Port of Dover in Kent (Gareth Fuller/PA) (PA Wire)

P&O Ferries has confirmed that all of its Dover-Calais sailings will be cancelled this weekend.

The company had hoped to resume crossing over Easter, but has been telling customers that no services will be operating until at least Tuesday 19 April.

In response to Twitter user Jeremy Palliser’s query as to whether ferries would be running on Thursday or Friday this week, P&O Ferries responded: “This service remains suspended until the 18 April inclusive, we will update when we have more information and if this changes we will contact you directly. We have contacted customers who were affected. Thank you.”

It follows the news that another of the beleaguered company’s vessels has been detained by regulators.

The Spirit of Britain ferry is being held in port by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), which is carrying out inspections to ensure P&O ships are fit to sail.

“The Spirit of Britain has been detained due to surveyors identifying a number of deficiencies which were grounds for detention,” an MCA spokesperson told ITV News.

“We have advised P&O to invite us back once they have addressed the issues. We do not know yet when this will be.”

Inspections are taking place after the company fired 800 of its seafaring staff without warning last month, replacing them with cheaper agency workers.

The Pride of Kent is also currently being detained by the MCA.

The only P&O ships that have been inspected and signed off are the Pride of Hull, which operates between Hull and Rotterdam, and European Causeway, which sails between Larne and Cairnryan.

P&O has been telling customers booked onto cancelled crossings: “For those with a confirmed P&O Ferries booking to travel today, please arrive at the port for the P&O sailing time booked. Once at the port please head to the DFDS booths (Dover) or P&O booths (Calais).”

However, DFDS said it will not accept P&O customers this weekend. The ferry firm tweeted: “DFDS has no availability for P&O customers between 15 April 00.01 and 17 April 23.59. Please do not proceed to port without a confirmed reservation, contact P&O Ferries for alternative travel arrangements.”