Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will hold discussions with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on the effect on crewing levels on roll-on roll-off ferries operated from (a) Hull and (b) Dover of P&O Ferries' announcement of 11 May 2020 on redundancies among (i) ratings and (ii) officers on those routes.

Crewing levels on all ships, including passenger ferries, are contained in the ship’s safe manning document as issued by the flag-State maritime administration in line with international principles.

The P&O ferries operating from (a) Hull and (b) Dover are Cypriot flagged and it is for the Cyprus Maritime Administration to determine the minimum safe manning levels.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s role as the port-State is to monitor the safe operation of these vessels through inspections.