P&O Ferries has employed a former DFDS govt as successor to Peter Hebblethwaite, the person whose controversial fire-and-rehire coverage earned him the nickname “Britain’s most hated boss”.
Mr Moos, who has additionally held senior roles at AP Moller Maersk, the conglomerate, stated in a memo circulated to P&O Ferries staff on Thursday: “This can be a globally recognised model within the ferry trade, one which right this moment supplies very important passenger and freight connections between the UK and continental Europe, and inside the UK.
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“I am looking forward to getting to work, continuing the transformation of this great company, and ensuring we are providing our customers with the high quality service they need.”
His arrival this month will guarantee a easy succession on the helm of the corporate, following Mr Hebblethwaite‘s scandal-hit tenure, during which he sacked a whole lot of seafarers and changed them with cheaper company workers.
Mr Hebblethwaite joined the ranks of Britain’s most infamous company figures in 2022 when P&O Ferries – a subsidiary of the enormous Dubai-based ports operator DP World – stated it was sacking 800 workers with speedy impact – a few of whom discovered their destiny by way of a video message.
Picture:Peter Hebblethwaite is seen giving proof to MPs in 2022. Pic: PA
The coverage, which Mr Hebblethwaite defended to MPs throughout subsequent choose committee hearings, erupted right into a nationwide scandal, prompting modifications within the legislation to offer employees larger safety.
P&O Ferries carries 4.5 million passengers yearly on routes between the UK and continental European ports together with Calais and Rotterdam.
It additionally operates a route between Northern Eire and Scotland, and is a serious freight service.
The corporate’s losses soared throughout the pandemic, with DP World – its sole shareholder – supporting it by way of a whole lot of thousands and thousands of kilos in loans.
Its most up-to-date accounts, which have been considerably delayed, confirmed a big discount in losses in 2023 to simply over £90m.
The discount from the earlier 12 months’s determine of virtually £250m was partly attributed to value discount workout routines.
Mr Hebblethwaite had argued for the reason that mass sackings of 2022 that the corporate would have gone bust with out the drastic cost-cutting that it entailed.
The corporate insisted on the time that these affected by the redundancies had been supplied “enhanced” packages to go away.
Final October, the then transport secretary, Louise Haigh, stated: “The mass sacking by P&O Ferries was a national scandal which can never be allowed to happen again,” including that measures to guard seafarers from “rogue employers” would stop a repetition.
The minister’s description of P&O Ferries as “rogue”, and suggestion that buyers ought to boycott the corporate, sparked a row which threatened to overshadow the federal government’s Worldwide Funding Summit final October.
The corporate relented after Sir Keir Starmer publicly distanced the federal government from Ms Haigh’s characterisation of DP World.
A P&O Ferries spokesman confirmed Mr Moos’s appointment.
