P&O Ferries’ hopes of running services between Dover and Calais have been dealt a major blow after one of its vessels failed a safety inspection for the second time.
The Pride of Kent will remain detained by officials after the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) refused to clear it to set sail.
A spokesman for the MCA said: “The Pride of Kent will remain detained following the reinspection of the ferry today which found a number of additional deficiencies including in safety systems and crew documentation.
“We have advised P&O to invite us back once they have addressed the issues. We do not know yet when this will be.”
The MCA decision comes just 24 hours after the Spirit of Britain, also moored up in Dover, failed a safety inspection.
With just one day before Easter Friday, the failure leaves P&O’s hopes of getting cross-channel services up and running by the bank holiday weekend hanging by a thread.
The Pride of Kent was seized on Mar 28 after the MCA deemed it unfit to set sail.
P&O announced last week that it would restart sailings between Dover and Calais in time for Easter. However, P&O admitted that its aspirations would be contingent on receiving regulatory sign-off.
The Telegraph reported last weekend that Whitehall sources expected P&O vessels to remain moored up in ports until May despite claims to the contrary by the operator.
Wednesday’s announcement means just two of P&O’s eight ferries have been cleared to sail, four weeks after the bosses sacked 800 seafarers without consultation and replaced them with cheaper agency staff.
None of the four vessels in Dover that are either moored up or in drydock have been cleared to set sail.
Lorries are stacked up for miles outside the Kent port as a vital link to the Continent remains shut. Calls to fast-track deliveries of perishable goods such as meat and fruit have been rejected. Logistics UK, the halauge trade group, has called for a “rapid reinstatement of full ferry capacity” to reduce congestion.
The Dutch-flagged Pride of Hull has been deemed seaworthy, as has the European Causeway – but only after failing a safety inspection on the first attempt.
P&O’s decision to make hundreds of staff redundant on the spot on Mar 17 sparked widespread condemnation across the political spectrum.
The operator, ultimately owned by the government of Dubai, is paying its new staff an average of £5.50-an-hour, well below the UK minimum wage of £9.50, in an attempt to break the stranglehold unions have over the industry.
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, has vowed to force all ferry operators to pay the minimum wage when sailing in British waters.
