Leading ferry firm P&O Ferries has suddenly suspended all its sailings ahead of a 'major company announcement.'
The company released a statement that says it will be making a 'major announcement' today that will 'secure the long-term viability' of the firm. It has asked all its vessels to discharge passengers and cargo.
Ferries from Liverpool, Hull, Cairnryan in Scotland and Dover have been affected by the suspensions. The alert was flagged on INRIX, the traffic and travel monitoring programme. It read: 'Service suspended on P and O Ferries between Dover and Calais, between Cairnryan and Larne, between Hull and Rotterdam and between Liverpool and Dublin due to operational incident."
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The company told passengers via its Twitter feed that it is “unable to run for the next few hours”. A company memo from P&O to its staff members, shared on twitter by Hull MP Karl Turner said: "We will be making a major company announcement today, which, with the support of our shareholder DP World, will secure the long-term viability of P&O Ferries.
"To facilitate this announcement all our vessels have been asked to discharge their passengers and cargo and standby for further instructions. This means we're expecting all our ports to experience serious disruption today so please bear with us and we will give further information in an all colleague announcement later today."
It added: "If you're in a customer facing role, further information will follow separately on how we would like you to work with our customers. Thank you for your patience and support." Mr Turner shared the memo and said: "This is troubling for crews and their families. I am in contact with unions regarding this."
A spokesperson for the company told The Independent: “P&O Ferries is not going into liquidation. We have asked all ships to come alongside, in preparation for a company announcement. Until then, services from P&O will not be running and we are advising travellers of alternative arrangements.”
"Travellers are being told: “Port Teams will guide you and travel will be arranged via an alternative operator. We apologise for the inconvenience this will have on your journey plans.”
