Another P&O Ferries vessel has been detained due to safety concerns as further warnings were issued over expected travel delays on the upcoming Easter Weekend.
The Spirit of Britain vessel is not being allowed to sail after an inspection found several safety issues, The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) confirmed.
Services have been suspended on the route since the firm axed nearly 800 seafarers to replace them with cheaper agency workers on March 17.
Meanwhile, the company resumed three services a day between Scotland and Northern Ireland at the start of the week.
P&O Ferries said sailings from Dover would remain cancelled until Good Friday at the earliest, but the decision of the MCA means the restart could be delayed.
The transport secretary warned of travel disruption over Easter weekend, especially in Dover, and expressed “concern” over the operators’ staff shortages.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Grant Shapps said: “I think certainly this weekend will be extremely busy on our roads, potentially at our ports – of course, particularly at Dover, where P&O disgracefully sacked all of their staff and then attempted to run ships which wouldn’t have been safe with the replacement below minimum wage staff they tried to hire quickly – and we know that none of their ships are running at the moment.
“So I do expect there to be disruption, with no thanks to P&O there.”
Mr Shapps also said: “I am very concerned that the operators – I’m talking about the airlines, the airports, the ports – do ensure that they get back to strength and quickly.
“They lost a lot of people during the pandemic. We have been warning them for a long time that they would need to gear up again and I’m very keen to make sure that they do everything possible to manage what I realised will be – and always is in fact, the Easter weekend – a very busy weekend on our transport system.”
A spokesman for the MCA said: “The Spirit of Britain has been detained due to surveyors identifying a number of deficiencies which were grounds for detention.
“We have advised P&O to invite us back once they have addressed the issues. We do not know yet when this will be.”
The agency did not specify what the issues were.
Pride of Kent – another vessel used on the Dover-Calais route – remains under detention.
The suspension of cross-Channel sailings by P&O Ferries means there is a shortage of capacity on the key Dover-Calais route.
This has contributed to large queues of lorries on the roads approaching the Port of Dover.
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