The Dover-based Spirit of Britain has been taken into custody by the Shipping and Coast Guard (MCA) and will not be released pending further scrutiny. An MCA spokesman said: “We have advised P&O to invite us back as soon as the issues are resolved. We do not yet know when this will happen. “ The ship’s commitment comes as P&O planned to resume services between Dover and Calais over the Easter weekend. The Spirit of Britain will not be able to return until the MCA confirms that the ships “meet the Port State Control regime requirement and are safe to disembark”. MCA is in the process of inspecting all eight P&O Ferries, after the company laid off all 800 of its employees in the UK, replacing them with cheaper foreign workers. The Pride of Kent – another boat used on the Dover-Calais line – remains in custody after failing a security inspection. The European Causeway, which runs from Cairnryan in Scotland to Larne in Northern Ireland, was held last month for crew training but was re-inspected and allowed to set sail earlier this week. The Pride of Hull, which stretches from the port of Humber in Rotterdam, has set sail. Subscribe to the daily Business Today email or follow the Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk The lack of ferries comes amid warnings of widespread travel disruptions to Dover and other Kent ports ahead of the Easter weekend. Last week, UK customs officials admitted they were struggling to resolve a downtime on a key IT system after Brexit, with drivers complaining that the malfunction increases the long delays in freight traffic trying to cross the Channel. Logistics UK called for a “speedy restoration of full ferry capacity” before Easter weekend in order to reduce the long queues of trucks.
