‘I wish there was another way and I’m sorry’: P&O Ferries CEO apologises for mass sackings

‘Once we knew it was the only way to save the business, we had to act,’ says Peter Hebblethwaite

Action stations: P&O crew and RMT officials marching to Westminster on Monday (Simon Calder)

Six days after 800 seafarers working for P&O Ferries were told they were redundant with immediate effect, the company’s chief executive has apologised.

Peter Hebblethwaite, CEO of P&O Ferries, said: “I want to say sorry to the people affected and their families for the impact it’s had on them.”

On Thursday morning, 17 March, officers and crew were told to tie up their ships and stand by for a “major announcement”.

Many were told in a video message that they had lost their jobs.

Mr Hebblethwaite also apologised to “the 2,200 people who still work for P&O and will have been asked a lot of difficult questions about this”.

He said: “Over the last week, I’ve been speaking face-to-face to seafarers and their partners. They’ve lost their jobs and there is anger and shock and I completely understand.”

But the chief executive insisted the replacement of existing crew by cheaper agency labour was essential. P&O Ferries lost £100m in the course of a year.

“We needed fundamental change to make us viable,” he said.

“This was an incredibly difficult decision that we wrestled with but once we knew it was the only way to save the business, we had to act.

“All other routes led to the closure of P&O Ferries.”

At prime minister’s questions, Boris Johnson said: “I think it is no way to treat hard-working employees.

“It looks to me as though the company concerned has broken the law.”

On Monday the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, told the Commons he had written to P&O Ferries’ parent company, DP World, “to express the outrage felt across the entire house”.