Four officers were last night continuing their "lock-in" protest on board the Irish Ferries vessel Isle of Inishmore in the Welsh port of Pembroke. They barricaded themselves into the ship's control room on Thursday afternoon shortly after security personnel hired by Irish Ferries appeared on board without warning.
Officers and crew on a second Irish Ferries vessel, the Ulysses moored in Holyhead, are also refusing to sail. However, Siptu said no crew members were manning a barricade on the Ulysses.
The four officers on the Isle of Inishmore are locked in an enclosed room below the water line, from where many of the ship's key functions are controlled. It is understood they have adequate supplies of food and water to remain there for several days.
They said yesterday they were prepared to stay in the control room until Irish Ferries removed the security personnel and foreign officers from the vessel.
Irish Ferries sent an unknown number of agency staff, believed to be mainly from Latvia and Estonia, on to the Isle of Inishmore and the Ulysses on Thursday. The company said they had been brought on board as part of a "familiarisation process" to allow them to take over from Irish staff who accepted the company's voluntary redundancy programme.
A spokesman said the security personnel were there to safeguard the vessels and provide protection for staff.
Siptu and the International Transport Workers' Federation said the crew did not have any problem with workers from eastern Europe brought by Irish Ferries to work on the vessel.
One of the officers barricaded in the control room, Gary Jones, said management had sought to interview some senior staff and encourage them to sail the vessel to Rosslare.
Another officer involved in the protest said the security personnel had arrived on board the Isle of Inishmore disguised as passengers. He said they had jumped out of toilets after changing into uniform. He said they wore baseball caps and what appeared to be body armour. The officer said that many of the security personnel were Irish. He said some carried bags and the crew did not know what was in them.
Pembrokeshire police said yesterday they were keeping a minimal presence in the area. The ferry terminal in Pembroke remained locked and deserted throughout yesterday.
On the ship a number of figures could be seen moving around the deck. There were no passengers in the vicinity of the ferry port. Passengers booked to travel to Rosslare on Thursday had been transferred to the nearby port of Fishguard.
An electronic sign in the car-park at Pembroke said the next Irish Ferries' service to Rosslare would be on Monday at 2.30pm.
The chief officer and Siptu shop steward on the Ulysses in Holyhead, Alan Taylor, said the mood on board the ship was "very determined". He said that officers and crew were refusing to load and sail the ship until the security personnel and foreign officers were removed.
Mr Taylor said the issues at stake were job security for staff, who did not want to take up Irish Ferries' offer of voluntary redundancy, and the problem of outsourcing of jobs in Ireland.
Tony Ayton, International Transport Workers' Federation inspector, said attempts were under way to make informal contacts between management and the unions.