P&O Ferries blames port owners as it axes Liverpool-Dublin route

P&O Ferries is to axe its Liverpool-Dublin route later this year and has blamed port owners, Peel Ports, for the ‘forced withdrawal’ after negotiations failed to secure a berth on Merseyside.

The service, which makes 24 crossings a week, will cease when P&O’s contract expires at The Port of Liverpool later this year. The shipping giant says it is already consulting with affected staff over jobs.

“We are saddened by our forced withdrawal from this route,” P&O said in a statement. “Without agreement with the port owner to provide a berth in Liverpool, it is impossible for P&O Ferries to continue operating on this route.

“Extensive negotiations with the owner of our Liverpool site to extend our lease at the port or find an alternative site for our Liverpool-Dublin service to operate from have been unsuccessful.”

Controversy: P&O hit the headlines in March this year when the RMT Union organised a series of protests at the Port of Liverpool over the operator’s decision to sack 800 members of staff.

Criticism: RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said the Liverpool-Dublin cancellation is the ‘latest attack on maritime jobs and skills’ shows the company ‘cannot be trusted to operate economically vital ferry services, blaming everyone else but themselves for their abject failures’.

Mr Lynch also urged the government to ‘scrap any shipping contracts they have with P&O and begin the process of banning them from operating in UK waters’.

Jobs: P&O said in a statement it intends to redeploy affected staff within the business or help them find employment elsewhere.