Meanwhile...In Other Sovereign Wealth Fund News DP World Running Up Pension Find Deficit
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The Guarian’s Gwyn Topham and Rachel Hall explain the brouhaha over “P&O Ferries’ mass sacking of 800 British seafarers to replace them with agency crew as shameful and ‘completely unacceptable’, amid furious calls for action against the company’s Dubai owners.”
The story explains the dispute and throws this in at the end:
DP World bought P&O Ferries for a second time in 2019, for £322m, after selling it earlier in the decade.
The business is believed to have been making escalating losses, with the rising cost of diesel adding to disruption from Covid and post-Brexit paperwork in cross-Channel traffic. DP World said it had never taken a dividend from P&O Ferries.
DP World has also come under fire for a £146m deficit in the Merchant Navy Ratings pension fund, which includes retired P&O crew. Sources said the taxpayer could be liable for the shortfall if it was left unpaid.
DP World last year agreed to sponsor the European golf tour – at a cost of £147m.
The “European Pro Golf Tour” came up in the House of Commons as well. Thanks reader D for catching this that will have the branding experts running around in circles.
