A two page statement by MDHC Chairman Gordon Waddell released on Wednesday (21 Aug) blames Eurolink Ferries, an MDHC subsidiary said to have lost £4.5m with a further £2.5m loss predicted for the rest of the financial year. An 18.8% loss in another MDHC company, Coastal Container Line, is ascribed to "overcapacity on the Irish Sea". A further £945,000 charge was incurred by a voluntary severance scheme accepted by 42 employees of Liverpool Cargo Handling and Nelson Stevedoring after the companies ceased trading last month.
No figure is given for losses due to the withdrawal of Atlantic Container Line for 4 weeks from late June. ACL's switch to Thamesport followed industrial action in Sweden in support of sacked Liverpool dockers, adding to earlier pressure from rank and file longshoremen on the US East Coast. ACL's subsequent departure from Thamesport is thought to be due to a combination of poor roads, increased distance from its customers in the north and the difficulty of servicing large vessels in a tidal port. But the shipper has yet to declare a permanent return to Liverpool and is said to be exploring other ports including Felixstowe.
Merseyside Port Shop Stewards chairman Jimmy Nolan told BBC Radio 4 that continuing international industrial action against shipping lines using the port was the main cause of MDHC's financial problems. The campaign to reinstate dockers sacked last September will now target Shell Oil along with ACL and Canadian Pacific (CAST/CanMar), in view of deliveries of crude to Shell's Tranmere depot.
The MDHC press statement expresses "deep regret that the dispute has not been resolved in spite of repeated efforts by the company and Transport and General Workers Union officials. The unofficial leaders of the dismissed workers remain intransigent and continue to press their original demands which are wholly unacceptable."
T&GWU General Secretary Bill Morris recently called for negotiations "without preconditions" but evidently the company continues to rule out reinstatement, the principal demand of the sacked dockers.
LabourNet Report
