Displaying items by tag: Wins Awards

5th December 2022

P&O Ferries Wins Award Despite Mass Sackings Is 'Beyond Belief' Says the Rail, Maritime & Transport Union

The boss of a UK trade union has said it is “beyond belief” that a ferry firm which “unlawfully sacked 800 workers and has employed cheap agency labour to maximise profits is winning travel awards”.

P&O Ferries which earlier this year sparked outrage after firing without notice almost 800 staff and seafarers working on the Irish Sea, the Strait of Dover and North Sea, was named at the British Travel Awards as the best company for short sea/mini cruises.

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime & Transport (RMT) union said: “It is beyond belief that a company that unlawfully sacked 800 workers and has employed cheap agency labour to maximise profits is winning travel awards.

“The treatment of UK seafarers by P&O Ferries and their DP World owners was one of the worst acts of industrial vandalism ever seen in the industry.

He added “They should not be operating as a business in Britain and rather than receiving awards, P&O bosses should be handed jail sentences for what they did to our members.”

It was in March when P&O Ferries (owned and based in Dubai UAE) had sacked nearly 800 seafarers and replaced its crews with cheaper agency workers that took place on the Larne-Cairnyran and Dublin-Liverpool routes.

In addition the sackings involved the operator's network between the UK and France, on the short Dover-Calais run aswell to the UK-Netherlands with their longest route between Hull and Rotterdam.

A spokesman for the British Travel Awards said: “I can’t comment on an individual company’s policies.”

More from the Belfast Telegraph and P&O's tweet in response to winning an award category.

Published in Ferry

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The Kingstown to Queenstown Yacht Race or 'K2Q', previously the Fastnet 450

The Organising Authority ("OA") are ISORA & SCORA in association with The National Yacht Club & The Royal Cork Yacht Club.

The Kingstown to Queenstown Race (K2Q Race) is a 260-mile offshore race that will start in Dun Laoghaire (formerly Kingstown), around the famous Fastnet Rock and finish in Cork Harbour at Cobh (formerly Queenstown).

The K2Q race follows from the successful inaugural 'Fastnet 450 Race' that ran in 2020 when Ireland was in the middle of the COVID Pandemic. It was run by the National Yacht Club, and the Royal cork Yacht Club were both celebrating significant anniversaries. The clubs combined forces to mark the 150th anniversary of the National Yacht Club and the 300th (Tricentenary) of the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Of course, this race has some deeper roots. In 1860 the first-ever ocean yacht race on Irish Waters was held from Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) to Queenstown (now Cobh).

It is reported that the winner of the race was paid a prize of £15 at the time, and all competing boats got a bursary of 10/6 each. The first race winner was a Schooner Kingfisher owned by Cooper Penrose Esq. The race was held on July 14th 1860, and had sixteen boats racing.

In 2022, the winning boat will be awarded the first prize of a cheque for €15 mounted and framed and a Trophy provided by the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the oldest yacht club in the world.

The 2022 race will differ from the original course because it will be via the Fastnet Rock, so it is a c. 260m race, a race distance approved by the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club as an AZAB qualifier.

A link to an Afloat article written by WM Nixon for some history on this original race is here.

The aim is to develop the race similarly to the Dun Laoghaire–Dingle Race that runs in alternate years.

Fastnet 450 in 2020

The South Coast of Ireland Racing Association, in association with the National Yacht Club on Dublin Bay and the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Cork, staged the first edition of this race from Dun Laoghaire to Cork Harbour via the Fastnet Rock on August 22nd 2020.

The IRC race started in Dun Laoghaire on Saturday, August 22nd 2020. It passed the Muglin, Tuscar, Conningbeg and Fastnet Lighthouses to Starboard before returning to Cork Harbour and passing the Cork Buoy to Port, finishing when Roches's Point bears due East. The course was specifically designed to be of sufficient length to qualify skippers and crew for the RORC Fastnet Race 2021.