High-profile job axed at ABP

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/search/4169026.High_profile_port_job_axed/search4169026.print/

DEPUTY port director Captain Steven Young has stunned the port community by announcing he is among more than 40 ABP workers to leave the docks in the latest round of job cuts.
He is the most high-profile victim of the wave of job losses on the waterfront triggered by the global recession.
A key player in the development of the port, he has pioneered Southampton’s rapid cruise and container growth, which, until recently, was rampant.
The era of expansion came to an end last year and the port is now struggling to cope with car handling volumes down 50 per cent and containers down more than ten per cent.
As a result there has been a succession of job cuts, with 45 axed by docks owner ABP last year, 82 by container port operator DP World last month and a further 42 by ABP last week.
Captain Young said he was now “exploring a number of opportunities in the region” after nearly two decades in the port.
“The trade slump is having a huge impact on the port and they have to address the cost,”he said.“So an opportunity arrived and it was mutually agreed that I leave at the end of March.