AFTER eight months of seeing colleagues leave through redundancy the doors of P&O Trans European in Ipswich have closed for the last time with the loss of more than 100 jobs.
AFTER eight months of seeing colleagues leave through redundancy the doors of P&O Trans European in Ipswich have closed for the last time with the loss of more than 100 jobs.
The company, which was part of the P&O Ferrymasters operation until December 31 last year, was taken over by Somerset-based Wincanton plc in a £153 million deal and duplication of jobs brought the Ipswich redundancies.
Since the takeover 108 from the original 120 staff have left, most through redundancy but with a handful re-locating to other branches of Wincanton and some to P&O Ferrymasters at Goddard Road in Ipswich.
Parts of P&O were taken over by Wincanton including Peninsula House in Lower Brook Street, Ipswich.
A spokesman at the Somerset-based logistics organisation said today that the takeover deal did not include P&O Ferrymasters business at Goddard Road in Ipswich, only Peninsular House.
"At the time of take-over the staff in the centre of Ipswich became part of the Wincanton group but the business at Goddard Road continued to be P&O.
"A few of the Lower Brook Street staff have moved to other Wincanton offices in the country but unfortunately 108 people were made redundant."
P&O Trans European operated across the continent delivering specialist items to businesses in a number of sectors including motor manufacturers, chemical industries and energy producers.
Wincanton plc has a similar business and the acquisition made it the second largest company in its field in the UK.
Before the New Year's Eve take-over Wincanton said most of the 7,000 jobs nationwide from P&O Trans European – including 120 in Lower Brook Street – would be saved.
And the spokesman today said that most of them had been saved with just "a handful, minimum number" lost to make savings from overlapping jobs.
At Goddard Road, P&O Ferrymasters employs more than 230 including some who relocated there from Lower Brook Street early in the year.
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