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From humble beginnings on 22nd August 1837, they expanded to become the UK’s best-known ferry firm with a fleet of over 16 ships to their name. They began by signing a government contract to ferry post between the Iberian Peninsula and London by steamer.

In 1852, spurred on by the Australian Gold Rush, P&O sent its first steamer into the New World. She was the first ship to arrive from England, and the voyage took just 84 days via the Cape.

In 1899 P&O carried 150,000 troops on eight ships during the Boer War – after the war, the passage time to India was reduced to just two weeks.

In 1904 P&O entered the business of ‘pleasure cruises’ for the first time as the notion of voyaging for pleasure became the height of fashion.

At the start of the First World War, P&O’s fleet was requisitioned for the war effort and by the mid-1920s, P&O had become the largest shipping company in the world, turning engine’s turbo-electric.

In the 1950s – after again their fleet was taken over during WWII, P&O created a newly-designed fleet. The focus is put on larger, faster and fewer ships.

In 1976 P&O began ferry operations in Dover with a route to Boulogne in France under the Normandy Ferries brand.

In 2000, P&O Cruises was spun off from P&O and is now owned and operated by Carnival Corporation & plc.

In 2006, the remaining P&O Group, including P&O Ferries, was sold to Dubai-based DP World for £3.9 billion. Shortly afterwards it was taken over by Dubai World.

In 2019, DP World announced it had repurchased P&O Ferries from Dubai World in a £322m deal.

P&O now carries more than 10 million passengers and 2 million units of freight every year with vessels operating major routes between Britain, France, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Holland and Belgium.

But on Thursday P&O abruptly suspended its operations, cancelling all sailings and offloading passengers and cargo with 800 UK staff told in a cowardly video call their employment was “terminated with immediate effect.”

Meanwhile on their website they trumpet their tale of success by declaring: “Our ships have sailed the seas from the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, through two World Wars and all the way to present day.

“From spearheading innovation during the days of the British Empire to embracing change in modern times, we’ve retained the values that made us so successful in the first place.”

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