P&O
P&O Ferries
P&O Ferries operate services to the Continent from Dover, Portsmouth and Hull, and have the largest fleet of ships (24), the widest choice of routes and the most frequent tourist service to the Continent. They serve a network of tourist and freight services to France, Belgium, Holland and Spain, and recently introduced two new “superferries” - Pride of Canterbury and Pride of Kent - to the Dover/Calais route. P&O Ferries collected the Best Ferry Operator of the Year and Ferry Company of the Year trophies at the British Travel Awards in 2006.
History
In 1987, the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Company purchased the ferry company Townsend Thoresen, whose operations were renamed P&O European Ferries, running from Portsmouth and Dover. In 1996, P&O European Ferries was split into three subsidiaries: P&O Portsmouth, P&O North Sea and P&O Stena Line - the latter the creation of a joint venture between P&O and the Swedish ferry company Stena to create the operations in Dover.
Following the sale of Stena Line’s 40% share in the Dover joint venture, the Portsmouth and North Sea operations - previously operating as North Sea Ferries - were merged with the Dover operations to create P&O Ferries, jointly managed from Dover.