‘P&O Ferries are corporate gangsters who got away scot-free’: Dubai-based cargo giant faces furious backlash after celebrating record-breaking £736 MILLION profits – months after sacking 800 UK-based workers
- P&O Ferries owner DP World sacked 800 workers to replace with agency staff
- The move was widely condemned and branded ‘illegal’ and ‘corporate thuggery’
- DP World yesterday reported a record profit of £736m for first half of this year
- Union leader said company got away with ‘behaving like corporate gangsters’
One of the UK’s top union bosses says the owner of P&O Ferries has got off ‘scot-free’ for firing 800 workers after the firm reported record profits yesterday.
The Dubai-based ports group DP World raked in a profit of $884million (£736million) over the six months to the end of June, an increase of more than 51 per cent compared with the same period in 2021.
DP World then fanned the flames by crediting Mr Hebblethwaite with doing an ‘amazing job’ despite the sackings being described as ‘corporate thuggery’ by politicians.
The company has now attracted renewed criticism after announcing its record-breaking profits, with the secretary general of the Trades Union Congress accusing them of getting away ‘scot-free with behaving like corporate gangsters’.
Frances O’Grady added: ‘These eye-watering profits come off the back of illegally sacking hundreds of dedicated staff. They are an insult to common decency.’
‘Ministers should have stripped DP world of all their lucrative public contracts and severed all commercial ties with the company. But now they too are using the P&O playbook.
The owners of P&O Ferries has faced criticism for recording record-breaking profits just five months after it fired 800 members of staff. Pictured: workers who had just been sacked leaving the Port of Dover in March
DP World boss Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem (pictured) said he is ‘delighted’ about the record half-year results
‘Having slammed P&O for replacing experienced workers with agency staff, Grant Shapps has passed laws that will allow employers to bus in agency workers during strikes.
‘At a time when the cost of living is soaring and wages are falling, the Conservative government wants to make it much harder for people to win better pay and conditions.’
DP World, which is ultimately owned by the Dubai royal family and is one of the biggest port operators in the world, credited the increase in revenue and profits to a shortage of cargo ships following a surge in demand and supply chain disruptions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘We are delighted to report a record set of first-half results,’ said DP World boss Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem.
‘The strong first half performance of 2022 is due to our consistent investment in relevant capacity, focus on high margin cargo and drive to deliver customised solutions to cargo owners.
‘The strong first half performance leaves us well placed to deliver improved full year results.’
DP World did not give separate details on the performance of its ferries business in its results but most of its revenue and profits come from other divisions.
It operates ports in 78 countries across the world and bought P&O Ferries for £3.3billion in 2006.
Gervais Williams, fund manager at Premier Milton, explained on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘The whole point about this business is that it’s principally involved in cargo logistics, so it’s involved in containers and moving containers around the world and that’s the main part of the business, it’s only a very small part that is P&O.
‘Clearly the P&O operations have had a huge hit in terms of reputational damage and that will have affected revenues and future profits for that part of the business.’
He agreed that the record-breaking profits would be a ‘hard pill to swallow’ for the workers who were sacked in March.
P&O Ferries chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite (pictured) later admitted the sudden sacking of 800 workers had been illegal but was ‘saving the business’
P&O Ferries operates passenger routes between Dover and Calais, as well as between Hull and the Dutch ports of Rotterdam and Zeebrugge and services across the Irish Sea.
It sparked public fury and was hauled in front of MPs to answer questions when it sacked hundreds of workers without notice in March.
The company said at the time that the decision had been made to ensure its survival, saying its losses were ‘not sustainable’.
P&O Ferries had previously requested a £150million bailout from the Government after demand for its ferries collapsed during the pandemic.
But the request was turned down after it was reported the firm had paid out £270million in dividends to investors in 2020.
Dubai-based ports group DP World drew condemnation after P&O Ferries abruptly fired 800 staff in order to replace them with cheaper agency workers (stock image)
Britain’s Dover port had to contend with delays in April partly caused by P&O ferry service sacking its workers (Pictured: Freight lorries at Port of Dover on April 12)
Staff were initially told of the mass firings in video calls on ships telling them it was their last day of employment, before ordering them off the vessels.
During the parliamentary hearings, the business admitted that it had broken the law that would have forced them to give notice of the firings, saying this was because no union would have accepted its new proposals.
P&O Ferries also admitted that almost 200 of the staff it fired said they had lost possessions that were left on the ships on the day the sackings were carried out.
An investigation by the Insolvency Service is being monitored by the Government, which previously said it was unable to take action directly against the directors of P&O Ferries.
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