The former P&O Ferries chief once described as “Britain’s most hated boss” saw his pay slide in his final full year in the job – but still earned more than £600,000.
Sky News can reveal that Peter Hebblethwaite was paid £622,000 in 2024, down from £683,000 the year before.
The figure is contained in accounts for P&O Ferries Division Holdings, which were published by Companies House on Wednesday.
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In a statement, a spokesperson for P&O Ferries said: “Our 2024 results show that our transformation is delivering.
“Despite challenges in the freight market and the long-term impact of Brexit on the sector, our financial position has continued to improve, customer satisfaction is rising, and our state-of-the-art hybrid vessels on the Channel are delivering significant reductions in carbon emissions.
“The business is focused on delivering a reliable and market-leading service to our customers and is well-positioned to continue its recovery to sustainable long-term growth.”
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The company declined to comment on Mr Hebblethwaite’s pay package.
Sky News revealed last autumn that P&O Ferries had hired former DFDS executive Kasper Moos as his successor.
Mr Hebblethwaite’s scandal-hit tenure saw him sack hundreds of seafarers and replace them with cheaper agency staff in a move which sparked fury in 2022 and catapulted him into the ranks of Britain’s most notorious corporate figures nearly four years ago.
P&O Ferries – a subsidiary of the giant Dubai-based ports operator DP World – said it was sacking 800 staff with immediate effect – some of whom learned their fate via a video message.
The policy, which Mr Hebblethwaite defended to MPs during subsequent select committee hearings, erupted into a national scandal, prompting changes in the law to give workers greater protection.
Mr Hebblethwaite had argued that the company would have gone bust without the drastic cost-cutting that it entailed.
P&O Ferries carries 4.5 million passengers annually on routes between the UK and continental European ports including Calais and Rotterdam.
It also operates a route between Northern Ireland and Scotland, and is a major freight carrier.
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The company’s losses soared during the pandemic, with DP World – its sole shareholder – supporting it through hundreds of millions of pounds in loans.
Its most recent accounts show a slight escalation in losses in 2024.
In October 2024, the then transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said: “The mass sacking by P&O Ferries was a national scandal which can never be allowed to happen again,” adding that measures to protect seafarers from “rogue employers” would prevent a repetition.
The minister’s description of P&O Ferries as “rogue”, and suggestion that consumers should boycott the company, sparked a row which threatened to overshadow the government’s International Investment Summit last October.
Sky News’s business and economics correspondent, Paul Kelso, revealed that DP World had withdrawn from participating in the event, and paused a £1bn investment announcement.
The company relented after Sir Keir Starmer publicly distanced the government from Ms Haigh’s characterisation of DP World.
