It was officially confirmed this morning that ACL the biggest company using Mersey port is to stop using it from tomorrow morning. The company will from now on use Thamesport instead.
This follows the refusal of tug boat men to cross a Mersey dockers' picket at the weekend which again caused disruption at the port and the decision of Swedish dockers to delay unloading every ACL ship by 12 hrs.
ACL had previously threatened to withdraw from using Mersey port after action by US east coast longshoremen. These last actions seem to have been the final straw.
Bernard Cliff from Mersey Docks & Harbour Company issued a statement saying "the company can survive this". The question, however, now clearly is can *he* survive the ACL decision especially since other shipping companies may now follow suit and quit the port. MD&HC shares have been dropping for some time because of the problems caused to the company by international action in support of the Liverpool men. After the announcement this morning they plummeted by a further 39p, 10% of their value. Cliff must now be in very serious trouble with shareholders.
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