P&o Ferries

From the late 1960s, P&O began running ferry routes across the North Sea and the English Channel. Roll-on/roll-off vehicle transport and containerisation were arriving at the same time, and taking advantage of them meant new ships, port facilities and heavy investment. The following decades brought expansion, a series of takeovers and a division into separate operations.

Later, the company faced a harder market. Cheap airline fares and the Channel Tunnel pulled passengers away, and several routes were closed in the twenty-first century. Even so, P&O kept a devoted following of travellers and remained one of the best-known names on the water.

Drawing on rare photographs, many never published before, maritime historian Ian Collard traces the history of the company and the ships that carried its name.