DP World, the owner of P&O Ferries announced record half-year profits despite in March supporting the sacking of 800 workers because of fears over the subsidiary’s future viability.
The Dubai-based, which owns some of the UK’s largest ports, had been condemned by the UK government, the opposition and unions for abruptly firing the crewmen and replacing them with agency workers on pay levels below the national minimum wage in some instances.
P&O Ferries boss Peter Hebblethwaite at the time admitted the move had been illegal but it was necessary to save the business. The company had said it had “made a £100m loss year on year” which had been “covered by our parent DP World”.
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“This is not sustainable,” it had added. “Our survival is dependent on making swift and significant changes now. Without these changes there is no future for P&O Ferries.”
However, DP World on Wednesday reported a record profit of £603m for the first six months of this year, an increase of nearly 52% compared with the same period in 2021.
“We are delighted to report a record set of first-half results,” said DP World boss Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem.
The TUC has reacted angrily to the news. Its general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “These eye-watering profits come off the back of illegally sacking hundreds of dedicated staff. DP World have been allowed to get away scot-free with behaving like corporate gangsters. They are an insult to common decency.”
She added that ministers “should have stripped DP World of all their lucrative public contracts.”
The Insolvency Service is still investigating the dismissal of the P&O Ferries workers but the government, despite calling for Hebblethwaite’s dismissal and condemning the sackings, has taken no further action.
P&O had previously requested a £150m 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 £270m in dividends to investors in 2020.
The government has said it will legislate to force all ferry operators operating from British ports to pay at least the national minimum wage. But port authorities, including those with facilities run by DP World, have called the plans unworkable.
P&O has said its new crews on cross-Channel and some other routes earn around £5.50 an hour.
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