Multiple UK media outlets report seeing a memo to staff asking for passengers and cargo to be discharged and to await further instructions.
"We will be making a major company announcement today which, with the support of our shareholder DP World, will secure the long-term viability of P&O Ferries," the note said.
P&O Ferries is a significant ferry operator in the UK, with multiple routes.
The company updated passengers on Twitter saying that services are unable to run for the next few hours, guiding passengers to alternative operators. Passengers at Dover and Calais were asked to report to the booking office of rival firm DFDS.
During the early stages of the pandemic, P&O was forced to suspend, furlough and then make redundant many staff and lay-up vessels as passenger flows were stopped by lockdowns.
DP World is a longterm maor stakeholder in P&O Ferries, a company it acquired as part of a diversification move away from its core ports portfolio.
Update: The UK's RMT union has expressed concerns over mounting speculation that UK seafarers are set to be replaced by cheaper foreign labour, and told its members to stay onboard P&O vessels.
RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch, said: “We are deeply disturbed by growing speculation that the company are today planning to sack hundreds of UK seafarers and replace them with foreign labour. We have instructed our members to remain onboard and are demanding our members across P&O’s UK operations are protected and that the Secretary of State intervenes to save UK seafarers from the dole queue.”
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