Shipping group P&O is to stop operating services to the Belgian port Zeebrugge from both Dover and Felixstowe.

The closures include the Dover route, which P&O inherited from Townsend Thoresen shortly before the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster in 1987.

P&O wants to focus on its more profitable Dover-to-Calais route as part of a major shake-up of its ferries business.

The Dover route will be withdrawn by P&O Stena Line at the end of this year, while the P&O North Sea Ferries' Felixstowe service will go next month.

P&O announced in April it was considering the future of both routes, as well as a North Sea Ferries service from Felixstowe to Rotterdam.

Consultations with employee representatives were continuing over that route.

P&O said: "The decisions to close the Felixstowe/Zeebrugge route and the Dover/Zeebrugge route results from their inability to achieve an adequate return, despite the best efforts of staff."

The company will cut 48 jobs at North Sea Ferries in Zeebrugge as a result of the changes, although jobs on the English side will be safeguarded by the transfer of ships to other routes.

Two of P&O Stena Line's youngest freight ships on the Dover/Zeebrugge route, the European Pathway and European Highway, will now be converted into ferries carrying up to 2,000 passengers on the Dover/Calais route.

The remaining Dover/Zeebrugge freight ship, European Seaway, will be switched to Dover/Calais to offer a dedicated freight service.

P&O's ferries business has relied on the strength of its Dover/Calais service in recent months after battling the impact of the foot-and-mouth disease.