This happened after checks to see whether the ship could sail safely with a new crew. The British coastguard could not immediately give the exact reasons why the ship is being detained.
P&O laid off 800 seafarers earlier this month. They were replaced by cheaper personnel from Eastern Europe and Asia. This was the reason for the British authorities to subject all P&O Ferries ships flying the English flag to a security check. At the end of last week, a ferry in Northern Ireland was also held at the quay.
But talks with the unions would only have been a sham, he said, because the dismissal was the only way to avoid bankruptcy. Last year, P&O would have suffered a loss of 100 million pounds.