A major ferry company's ship has been detained over failures in crew training, the coastguard says, days after 800 staff members were fired

• A P&O Ferries ship has been detained over safety concerns regarding crew training.
• The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said it will remain under detention until the issues are resolved.

A vessel belonging to a major UK company P&O Ferries has been detained over safety concerns regarding the training of new crew members.

In a statement to Insider, The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the European Causeway ship was held "due to failures on crew familiarization, vessel documentation and crew training."

The ferry has been held in Larne, a town in Northern Ireland.

"The vessel will remain under detention until all these issues are resolved by P&O Ferries. Only then will it be reinspected," the coastguard said.

It added: "Detention of ships is based on concerns over their safety and to prevent them going to sea."

According to Sky News, there were no passengers on board when the seizure of the ship was announced.

P&O did not immediately respond to Insider's request made outside of normal working hours.

The move comes days after P&O Ferries abruptly canceled all its sailings and sacked 800 members of staff without any notice.

In a previous statement to Insider, P&O said in regards to the mass firing: "Our survival is dependent on making swift and significant changes now. Without these changes there is no future for P&O Ferries."

In a tweet on Saturday morning, P&O announced disruptions to sailings. It said: "P&O Ferries services are unable to run some of our services over the next few days. We are advising travellers of alternative arrangements."

UK transport secretary Grant Shapps confirmed the latest announcement in a tweet, saying the ship was detained on grounds of being "unfit to sail."

He said: "I will not compromise the safety of these vessels and P&O will not be able to rush inexperienced crew through training."

Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, also responded to the detainment of the ship. Per Sky News, he said: "The gangster capitalist outfit P&O are not fit & proper to run a safe service after the jobs massacre. This mob should be barred, their ships impounded & the sacked crews reinstated."