P&O Ferries was forced to cancel one of its trips from Dover this morning after the discovery of a suspicious package onboard. The ship was due to set sail at 6:40am, but was instead cancelled and customers were told to evacuate the ship. Bomb disposal teams arrived at the Port of Dover shortly after the discovery. A P&O Ferries spokesman has released a statement saying: “A suspicious package was found on one of our ships this morning, the authorities are currently in attendance, and all passengers and non-essential crew have been evacated as a precaution.
“Our other vessels were searched as a precaution but these checks are not ongoing.”
Delays are to be expected this morning for anyone crossing the Channel at Dover.
Dover TAP, a traffic calming scheme, is in place on the A20, but pictures shared to social media show long queues of HGV’s wiaitng to be placed on later sailings.
Both P&O Ferries and DFDS Seaways have reported delays after the incident – P&O is currently predicting delays of up to two hours.
Affected passengers are being put on to the next available sailing.
DFDS Seaways is yet to give an estimation time, but passengers have been warned of the delay to their travel.
But a spokesman has said: “Unfortunately, due to security issues in the port, both Calais and Dunkrirk ships are experiencing delays.
“Authorities are trying to resolve this ASAP.
“Apologies for any inconvenience caused.”
P&O Ferries Updates has tweeted: “We are sorry to advise that we are experiencing delays of up to 120 minutes on our #POcalais and #PODover routes.”
It added: “We apologise for the inconvenient caused.”
