APMT Gothenburg to let go of 36% of workforce

The port terminal operator is giving 160 members of its staff in Gothenburg, Sweden, a notice of termination due to a decline in volumes resulting from a series of trade union blockades and strikes over the past year.    APM Terminals (APMT) Gothenburg is giving 160 members of its staff a notice of termination due to a decline in volumes as a result of trade union blockades and strikes, the terminal operator said Tuesday.
   The layoffs account for 36 percent of the terminal’s 450 employees.
   “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,” APMT Gothenburg CEO Henrik Kristensen said. “We are now faced with the necessity of winning back confidence and reshaping our operation to the current volume.”
   Over the past year, the terminal has experienced nine working days lost to strikes and 14 blockades.
   On May 19, APMT began a partial lockout at the container terminal, scheduled for weekdays between 16:00 and 7:00 until June 30, in response to the planned industrial action by members of the Swedish Dockworkers Union (SDU).
   APMT Gothenburg has accepted every proposal that the mediators, chosen by the Swedish National Mediation Institute, have made to resolve the dispute, APMT said.
   Once the redundancy negotiations are completed, the terminal will be run on a two-shift basis, without any night-time service.
   “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,” said APMT Gothenburg HR & Negotiations Manager Sophia Tuveson.
   Although the terminal is called by various intra-North Europe fully cellular services, the only fully cellular loop connecting APMT Gothenburg to regions outside of North Europe is the AE5/Albatross, which is operated by the 2M Alliance of Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co., according to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting’s Port Dashboard tool. The loop operates between Asia, the Mediterranean and North Europe, deploying 12 vessels with an average capacity of 18,319 TEUs.
   A Maersk spokesperson told American Shipper the AE5 has been impacted by the ongoing labor disputes in Gothenburg for some time now. The Danish carrier has even established a contingency page in relation to the disputes.