Monday 21 March 2022 · below the Index · spike
P&O Ferries mass dismissal of seafarers
P&O Ferries dismissed 800 UK seafarers without notice on March 17, 2022, replacing them with agency workers earning significantly lower wages (reported as £1.80–£2 per hour). The action sparked widespread backlash from unions, industry figures, and the public, with calls for boycotts and reinstatement.
Peak 103.4 on Friday 18 March 2022. The shaded band is the incident window.
Where the attention came from
Media-led, both over the window and on the peak day. Social here is X alone — Bluesky only joins the series from July 2024 — so its level isn't directly comparable with today's series, though its share of this incident is real.
Bar = share of the extra attention over the whole window; the tick marks the share on the peak day alone, where the two differ.
How unusual it was
This was above 88% of all days since 2020, and the highest since Friday 18 March 2022.
How far it spread
Spilled over — 2 of 6 vessel-type groups drew clearly more readers than usual.
Bars start at 1× — normal readership for that vessel type, the weeks before the incident. Grey = no clear lift. "Over time" shows each group's daily readers through the window; "All 12 articles" breaks the six groups back into their members.
How it was framed the frame glossary →
Lead frame: seafarer victim. Trade press was 3% of in-scope coverage — the story had left the trade press and gone mainstream. (Historical coverage is scored on headlines only.)
Acting, or acted upon
In 0% of coverage shipping was the thing acted upon rather than the actor; 93% of it was strongly negative in tone.
Maritime Attention Index, incident: P&O Ferries mass dismissal of seafarers, peak 103.4 on 18 March 2022. maritimeattentionindex.com/incidents/2022-p-o-ferries-mass-dismissal-of-seafarers/