A P&O ferry that was detained by the coastguard is set to resume sailing next week
The European Causeway, which sails from Larne to Cairnryan had been detained by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency for “failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training” in March.
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, said he would not compromise the safety of P&O vessels and insisted that the company was not able to rush training for inexperienced people. The company sacked almost 800 seafarers and replaced them with agency staff on cheaper salaries.
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A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said at the time: “We can confirm that the European Causeway had been detained in Larne.
“It has been detained due to failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training. The vessel will remain under detention until all these issues are resolved by P&O Ferries. Only then will it be reinspected.”
P&O have now said that the European Causeway, along with two other vessels that were detained, will now return to sailing this week.
A spokesperson said: "From this weekend, P&O Ferries are getting ready to resume services across a number of vital routes.
"P&O has been working closely with regulators to ensure our ships are safe to sail. P&O is looking forward to welcoming back vital services and we expect to have two of our vessels ready to sale on the Dover-Calais route by next week, subject to regulatory sign-off, namely the Pride of Kent and the Spirit of Britain between Dover-Calais.
"P&O are also expecting to be able to sail both the European Causeway which runs between Larne and Cairnryan and the Pride of Hull, which runs services between Hull and Rotterdam.
"For those customers still affected by wider disruption, we are providing refunds to all passengers booked to travel with us to whom we have not been able to provide alternate services. Customers can contact our customer service team by email or phone for a refund.
"Anyone who has had their trip disrupted with P&O will also receive a free trip to be used on a future journey with us, that can be taken later in the year.
"We thank our customers for their patience during this time and we apologise to those customers who's journeys have been cancelled and disrupted."
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