OPERATIONS at APM Terminals Gothenburg were severely impacted by industrial dispute for 153 days last year
OPERATIONS at APM Terminals Gothenburg were severely impacted by industrial dispute for 153 days last year. Effectively, the Swedish Dockworkers' Unioncost the Scandinavian hub 30 per cent of its annual container volume.
Managing director of APM Terminals Gothenburg Henrik Kristensen said the port lost 180,000 TEU in 2017 due to the labour disruptions plaguing the terminal in a year when other ports in North Europe were booming, IHS Media reported.
The strikes are placing the port's competitiveness in jeopardy since it has invested heavily in infrastructure to develop its gateway-to-Scandinavia status, with rail operations that are able to connect to 300 destinations from Gothenburg.
'There is a threat that not all the 30 per cent of volume we lost will come back,' said Mr Kristensen.
Gothenburg can handle 20,000-TEU plus vessels, but Mr Kristensen said if the dispute continues, it would be difficult to attract mega ships.
The ongoing industrial action has forced shippers in and out of Scandinavia to transfer their cargo shipments to other North Europe ports and use feeder ships or trucks to serve the northern markets, adding to their costs.
'There is a big dredging project planned to secure the future of the port, but all this is in jeopardy because if the customers don't know if they can trust a logistics chain through Gothenburg, they will not use us.'
Mr Kristensen said APM Terminals has twice accepted proposals to reach a labour agreement presented by the Swedish Mediation Institute, but on both occasions the Swedish Dockworkers' Union declined to accept the proposals.
This has left the port in a difficult position. Gothenburg is bound to a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the incumbent labour body, the Swedish Transport Workers' Union. However, the Swedish Dockworkers' Union also wants to negotiate a labour agreement with Gothenburg.
The Swedish Dockworkers' Union is affiliated to the Barcelona-based International Dockworkers' Council (IDC), and the IDC's general coordinator Jordi Aragunde Miguens said the conflict situation at the port of Gothenburg was becoming more complicated.
'From our side, we are trying to find solutions to help to finish this situation,' he told IHS Media. 'We've talked with some of the biggest shipping lines, customers, and stakeholders in general, with the main objective to propose new alternatives to reach an agreement. All the parts need an agreement.'
Managing director of APM Terminals Gothenburg Henrik Kristensen said the port lost 180,000 TEU in 2017 due to the labour disruptions plaguing the terminal in a year when other ports in North Europe were booming, IHS Media reported.
The strikes are placing the port's competitiveness in jeopardy since it has invested heavily in infrastructure to develop its gateway-to-Scandinavia status, with rail operations that are able to connect to 300 destinations from Gothenburg.
'There is a threat that not all the 30 per cent of volume we lost will come back,' said Mr Kristensen.
Gothenburg can handle 20,000-TEU plus vessels, but Mr Kristensen said if the dispute continues, it would be difficult to attract mega ships.
The ongoing industrial action has forced shippers in and out of Scandinavia to transfer their cargo shipments to other North Europe ports and use feeder ships or trucks to serve the northern markets, adding to their costs.
'There is a big dredging project planned to secure the future of the port, but all this is in jeopardy because if the customers don't know if they can trust a logistics chain through Gothenburg, they will not use us.'
Mr Kristensen said APM Terminals has twice accepted proposals to reach a labour agreement presented by the Swedish Mediation Institute, but on both occasions the Swedish Dockworkers' Union declined to accept the proposals.
This has left the port in a difficult position. Gothenburg is bound to a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the incumbent labour body, the Swedish Transport Workers' Union. However, the Swedish Dockworkers' Union also wants to negotiate a labour agreement with Gothenburg.
The Swedish Dockworkers' Union is affiliated to the Barcelona-based International Dockworkers' Council (IDC), and the IDC's general coordinator Jordi Aragunde Miguens said the conflict situation at the port of Gothenburg was becoming more complicated.
'From our side, we are trying to find solutions to help to finish this situation,' he told IHS Media. 'We've talked with some of the biggest shipping lines, customers, and stakeholders in general, with the main objective to propose new alternatives to reach an agreement. All the parts need an agreement.'
Source: WORLD SHIPPING
We are hoping for a new dialogue about the port
DEBATE We hope that the Arbitration Court's verdict against the ports of Sweden can lead to a new dialogue, because it is a dialogue we need, not restricted union rights, writes Peter Annerback, Hamnarbetarförbundet.
07:00 - 21 Feb, 2018
Sweden's Ports (SH) were arrested last week in the Labor Court for breach of the obligation to negotiate and now have to pay compensation to the Swedish Hammerbetarförbundet, an organization that they devoted to the last year to act as negotiating bribery crimes. The verdict is the third dispute from 2017 where AD judges the port workers' benefit. We hope that SH is now learning and welcoming them back to the dialogue on which the Swedish model is based.
The business community has in its aggressive campaign against us dockers accused us of not wanting to compromise and to lower productivity in Gothenburg's container terminal. In January, SVT's mission revealed how these lobbyists really lacked an interest in solving the crisis in the port. Rather, they want to cook on the conflict in order to push the government to eradicate one of the pillars of the Swedish model - strike duty.
We hope AD's judgment can make the ports of Sweden throw their strategy to avoid negotiation and blow new conflicts into the trash.
The background to the judgment in the AD is that the Harbor Workers' Association requested negotiations in the spring to try to achieve a collective agreement solution with comprehensive peacekeeping for the industry, as many demand. But the employers' organization failed to respond, and when they thought they had time to book a meeting, the window of last year's contractual movement was already closed. The strategy is obvious; As long as it is estimated that there is full conflict in the port, there are arguments for limiting the right to strike.
Ready to compromise
We have always been clear. We are ready to compromise, and we are happy to work with Transport in a tripartite agreement or a joint negotiation cartel that can sign agreements with the employer side.
We want the best of the harbor and what benefits the port usually benefits us who work in it. However, it is neither in the interests of the port or port workers that permanent jobs are now being settled and replaced with unsafe crew solutions in the container terminal. APM Terminal's staff policy forced us to strike for eight hours last year. In the same year, the employer stopped production for 371 hours through a lockout that had disastrous consequences for society.
The Mediation Institute's conflict statistics now show that APMT's combat measures alone accounted for 87 percent of the lost working days throughout the Swedish labor market in 2017.
We hope AD's judgment can make SH throw its strategy to avoid negotiation and blow new conflicts into the trash. With dialogue, not restricted trade union rights, we can restore society's confidence in Göteborg's container terminal.
Peter Annerback
Head of Department, Svenska Hamnarbetarförbundet Department 4 Göteborg
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