P&O Ferries seafarers who were onboard a vessel that lost power and was adrift in the Irish Sea for two hours yesterday are reportedly refusing to work on the ship.
Some agency workers have asked maritime unions for advice about terminating their contracts, reports The Times.
The European Causeway, which can carry up to 410 passengers, suffered a power failure five miles off the coast of Larne, Northern Ireland, at 12.25pm on 26 April.
The RNLI sent out lifeboats shortly after the ferry did not arrive at the scheduled time of 2pm.
The engine regained power at 2.14pm, and was escorted to Larne Harbour by three RNLI boats.
Following P&O Ferries’ decision to break the law by firing nearly 800 staff with immediate effect – and no prior consultation – on 17 March, replacing them with cheaper agency workers, its ships were detained for inspection.
A record number of failings were detected during an inspection of European Causeway.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) found 31 separate problems, including fire safety and lifeboat drill issues.
“Launching arrangements for survival craft” were “not as required”, according to the inspection report; meanwhile, an evacuation slide had not been maintained and new non-UK crew hired to replace fired staff were not familiar enough with radio equipment.
More failures were found on the European Causeway than in 46,000 Port State Control inspections of ships in the last three years, reported PA.
However, it had since passed muster and resumed sailings between Cairnryan, Scotland, and Larne two weeks ago.
P&O said of yesterday’s power failure: “Following a temporary mechanical issue, the European Causeway [continued] its scheduled journey to the Port of Larne under its own propulsion, with local tugs on standby.
“There are no reported injuries onboard and all the relevant authorities have been informed. A full independent investigation will be undertaken.”
The MCA confirmed it would be “following up the incident with an inspection”.
Meanwhile, the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union blamed the incident on P&O’s decision to replace experienced staff.
The union’s Darren Procter said: “It is clear this is down to inexperienced crew. Seafarers familiar with the ship would have been able to keep it under power.”
