P&O Ferries: questions raised over Grant Shapps’ meeting with DP World
The UK transport secretary, Grant Shapps, met the DP World boss Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem last November and told him that he was “aware of the issues at P&O Ferries” but recognised “you will need to make commercial decisions”, according to official minutes of the meeting.
The revelation raises further questions about whether Shapps could have acted to head off the mass sackings last week at the Dubai-owned ferry operator.
On Monday, Shapps told the Commons that “the first I heard about it was at 8.30 in the [Wednesday] evening, not through the memo, which I did not see, but instead through communication with my private office to indicate that P&O would be making redundancies the next day”.
Shapps said he expected P&O Ferries to consult on more redundancies rather than instigate mass sackings.
The Department for Transport minutes show Bin Sulayem welcomed Shapps to DP World’s pavilion at the Dubai Expo on 22 November. During the face-to-face encounter, the sultan warned Shapps: “In respect of our ferry business, there’s a new low-cost competitor from Irish Ferries. This poses challenges in respect of P&O’s operations. We kept ferries operating during the height of the pandemic to support movement of people and goods.”
Shapps thanked Bin Sulayem and told him: “I’m aware of the issues relating to P&O. I recognise you will need to make commercial decisions, but please do keep us informed.”
Bin Sulayem added: “As we recover we can reinvest in the UK. We make a significant amount of income from the passenger side of our business (even though it only makes up c.30% of total business), because the margins are so tight on the cargo side.”
Shapps replied: “I appreciate everything you’ve done to support P&O.”
The minutes were published
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