A potential blow was dealt to agri-food exports on Thursday as P&O Ferries announced the suspension of its services for several days and the loss of 800 jobs.

P&O Ferries, a transporter of both freight and passengers on routes including Ireland to Britain and Britain to France, said 800 of its employees have been given “immediate severance notices”.

The ferry company’s services include the shipment of livestock across the Channel and Irish Sea. It is owned by Dubai-based logistics giant DP World.

Disruption

In a statement, a company spokesperson said: “P&O Ferries have today announced a programme of work to become a more competitive and efficient operator, providing a better service to our customers across the tourism and freight industries.

“While we enact these changes, there will be significant disruption across P&O Ferries services over the next few days, however we are working to minimise the impact on your journey.”

The company also revealed it made a £100m loss year-on-year and warned that this is not sustainable.

The spokesperson said: “Our survival is dependent on making swift and significant changes now. Without these changes, there is no future for P&O Ferries.”

The routes of significance to Irish customers which the ferry company operates and which will now be affected include Dublin to Liverpool and Larne, Northern Ireland, to Cairnryan, Scotland.

Call for Intervention

Responding to the announcement, Northern Ireland’s (NI) Minister for the Economy Gordon Lyons said: “I am deeply concerned at reports of mass redundancies by P&O Ferries. There is understandable anxiety among the company’s staff, which include many from Northern Ireland.

“I call upon the UK Secretary of State for Transport to intervene where he can to save these jobs and minimise disruption to maintain the vital connectivity for passengers and freight between NI and Great Britain.”