CONTAINER: The global container carrier and major customer of APM Terminals in Port of Gothenburg now says that it is considering rebooking close to 50 percent of its port calls. The announcement follows the gridlocked conflict between dockworkers in the port and APM Terminals. BY DANIEL LOGAN BERG-MUNCH Published 16.06.17 at 10:36
The gridlocked conflict between dockworkers and APM Terminals is now starting to really hurt the Port of Gothenburg. The port has previously estimated that the conflict caused a seven percent slide in cargo volumes as carriers and shippers have found other ways to transport their cargoes to and from Sweden. And now the global container carrier MSC,threatens to cut its calls in Port of Gothenburg in half unless the problems are resolved, reports Swedish media Gøteborgs-Posten. We are getting so strong reactions from our customers that we will definitely make a sizeable reduction on bookings in Sweden" — Morten Møller Weisdal, managing director, MSC Sweden "It's 100 percent because of the labor conflict. We are getting so strong reactions from our customers that we will definitely make a sizeable reduction on bookings in Sweden," Morten Møller Weisdal, MSC's managing director in Sweden, tells the media, adding that this would be a significant reduction of around half the port calls. MSC is a major customer of APM Terminals in Port of Gothenburg and partner of Maersk Line in then world's biggest container alliance, 2M. The statement from MSC comes a week and a half after yet another attempt to mediate the conflict between dockworkers represented by union Svensk Hamnarbetarförbundet's subdivision Ham4an and the Maersk Group's port unit APM Terminals collapsed. The carrier is not the first customer to look toward other ports due to the conflict. In May the Swedish foresting group Stora Enso announced that it considers leaving Port of Gothenburg.
This news came in a letter to Sweden's minister of transport, who has entered the case. According to Gøteborgs-Posten, chemical group Akzo Nobel and fashion company Lindex have also opted to find other routes for its goods. However, a resolution does not look imminent. In early June the Swedish mediator announced that he has given up efforts to mediate between the parties in the conflict. The parties have been summoned to a new meeting at Sweden's mediation body Mæglingsinstitutionen on Friday, reports media Sjøfartstidningen. English Edit: Daniel Logan Berg-Munch MSC's North European business hit by fierce competition Public mediator gives up on Gothenburg conflict The Gothenburg port conflict enters a new stage of deadlock MSC PORT OF GOTHENBURG
http://shippingwatch.com/carriers/Container/article9657400.ece?utm_content=2017-06-16%2016%3A00%3A17&utm_medium=top&utm_source=Feed
Brutal attack on the Swedish dockers by APMT GOTHENBURG!!!
APM Terminals Gothenburg to Lay Off 160 Workers
Image Courtesy: Port of Gothenburg
APM Terminals Gothenburg has served a notice of termination to 160 staff members, out of a total of 450 employees, due to “a sharp fall in volumes over the past year”.
The port operator said that, once the redundancynegotiations are completed, operation will be run on a two-shift basis without night-time service. In total, 450 people work at APM Terminals Gothenburg.
“This has been a difficult but necessary decision. We are in a critical situation, where targeted blockades and strikes have been crippling our operation for over a year now, and where we have lost several of our customers. We are now faced with the necessity of winning back confidence and reshaping our operation to the current volume,” Henrik Kristensen, CEO of APM Terminals Gothenburg, said.
APM’s the container terminal in Gothenburg was hit hard by a series of industrial actions over the past year. Nine days were lost to strikes and 14 trade union blockades following one after the other were organized during the period, resulting in a drop in volumes.
APM Terminals Gothenburg added that it “has accepted every proposal that the mediators, selected by the Swedish National Mediation Institute, have made to solve the dispute.”
“For our long-term survival, we see no other option than to make major changes to our operation, win back the confidence of customers and be a stable employer for the benefit of our workforce and our owners,” Kristensen added.
“Our objective is that the negotiations will take place promptly and we hope to complete them within a couple of weeks, so that we can then inform the members of staff affected. This is a very distressing but unavoidable situation. We will try to make the process as sympathetic as possible,” Sophia Tuveson, HR & Negotiations Manager at APM Terminals Gothenburg, said.
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