Too busy to get on to the quay...

Please kindly note due to berth unavailability in Felixstowe the CSCL AMERICA V.0049W and the CSCL AFRICA V.0063W will both be diverted to call Southampton port

http://www.cnshipping.co.uk/

White hats tell us it's because of the threat of industrial action, China shipping tell us they can't even get on the quay!

DP World to deepen Thames

DP World is to begin deepening the Thames estuary over the next few weeks to allow the world’s largest container ships to dock at its London Gateway terminal.

A Belgian dredger will spend six weeks from the beginning of March creating a navigation channel to the US$2.5bn project, which will add 3.5m teu to the UK’s port capacity

Simon Moore, CEO of London Gateway, said: “Dredging is an essential part of the project and will create a world-class shipping lane to a port that will become the primary sea trading route for British commerce.”

Dublin port dispute settled

Workers at Ireland’s busiest container terminal have voted to cancel the latest round of industrial action over redundancies and working conditions, following negotiations between unions and management.

Staff at Dublin’s Marine Terminals (MTL) had been due to strike on Monday, but yesterday a deal was brokered between MTL and unions Siptu and International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).

Siptu told IFW today: “The dispute is over; the issues have been resolved through negotiation, and this has been voted for by the workers at a meeting in Liberty Hall last night.

The settlement between MTL and Siptu concerns the Irish Labour Court’s recommendation of 12 October, and an arbitrator’s findings issued on 5 January.

It sets out agreements on arbitration and problem solving, and commits both parties to building skills and co-operation for the future running of the port, and includes a comprehensive training programme for the workers to ensure they are multi-skilled in all the disciplines at MTL.

Siptu divisional organiser Christy McQuillan said: “Our members have been through a very difficult experience regarding their welfare and that of their families over a protracted period.

“The important thing is that hands-on jobs at Dublin Port have been protected and the company has an opportunity to grow and develop the business, which will, hopefully, lead to the creation of further jobs.

“The agreement also ensures that workers in the company will have union representation and will have access to all the industrial relations procedures of the state.”

An MTL spokesman said: “Today’s agreement marks a major step forward in ensuring our customers continue to receive the high level of service they are accustomed to.

“We are grateful to the ITF for its efforts and look forward to working in partnership with Siptu to deliver on both the spirit and letter of the agreement.”

Dublin dockers vote for new strike

Dockers at the Ireland’s busiest container terminal will go back on strike on 22 February after negotiations over redundancies and working conditions broke down.

The Dublin dock workers said they had served a strike notice on Marine Terminals (MTL), owned by Peel Ports, on Friday after the terminal operator indicated it "would not abide by the arbitrators’ ruling”.

Arbitrator Finbarr Flood had been tasked with resolving the differences between workers’ union Siptu and the MTL management.

It is understood that MTL rejected his recommendations and the workers were also unhappy with them.

Flood outlined three areas where the two parties disagreed and ruled that both sides should abide by court recommendations on severance packages, that the company needs 30 workers and that the “agreed” selection criteria for compulsory redundancies be implemented.

The previous strike, over the same issues, began last July, lasted 111 days and only ended after a resolution was brokered by the Irish Labour Court.

Peel Ports was unavailable for comment at the time of posting

http://www.ifw-net.com/freightpubs/ifw/index/dublin-dockers-vote-for-new-strike/20017749090.htm;jsessionid=1DD7E3B11A7CBA65B82EE97343D7D2DF.5fa4e8cc80be35e2653c9f87d8b8be45bf6ba69a

For more information on this dispute or to leave messages of support for our fellow dockers please have a look at this site. http://www.mtldockers.com/index.html

Hutchison takes knife to ACT top brass

Hutchsion Port Holdings will dismiss the 11- strong management team of its subsidiary Amsterdam Container Terminal (formerly Ceres Paragon)
ACT's CEO Pieter Bas Bredius described the management clear-out - which includes himself - "as a logical step…we proposed it ourselves. With HPH as majority shareholders, a facility like this should be run lean and mean, and should not have its own fully-fledged local management.

"Rotterdam is just down the road and HPH’s regional HQ is well-staffed. ECT's president Jan Westerhoud is responsible for all HPH's European terminals and business development north of the Mediterranean, excluding the UK."

The ACT management team will leave towards the middle of this year, with some reports suggesting March, in what Bredius calls "complete harmony and in a very decent manner. Compulsory redundancies are unlikely, as everybody backs it.

"We are very proud to have gotten this terminal off the ground in the face of Rotterdam competition, and we’ll continue to seek new deepsea liner business to the end."

Bredius joined the then Chris Kritikos-owned Ceres Paragon facility terminal in December 2003 (it was sold to NYK in December 2006), Before that he was director, terminals and procurement, with PONL in Rotterdam.

Operations manager Chris Schaffers will be the only senior staffer to stay and head the 130 strong workforce, but their fate is also unclear. Westerhoud is said to be considering the option of transferring a number of the Amsterdam dockers to one of ECT’s four Rotterdam marine terminal complexes.

HPH has failed to lure the Wan Hai Lines/PIL service to Amsterdam, but is still eying a few options to keep the terminal alive on a stand-alone basis.

As previously reported, the Port of Rotterdam's CEO Hans Smits is of the opinion that ACT should concentrate on inland shipping and barge services. So far at least, HPH is resisting that outcome.

http://www.worldcargonews.com/htm/w20100212.952517.htm

London Gateway still subject to market demand

DREDGING work at London Gateway, the first deepsea port to be built in the UK in more than 20 years, will begin next month. But completion of the project is still dependent on an improvement in market conditions.


http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/news/london-gateway-still-subject-to-market-demand/20017748076.htm;jsessionid=C0B8813A7EA151F0C237B4540E4C1C96.5fa4e8cc80be35e2653c9f87d8b8be45bf6ba69a

New Forest councillors expect more proposals to expand docks

A new attempt to build a massive dock development at Dibden Bay is “inevitable”, say council chiefs.


They issued the warning after criticising the Government’s new policy statement on the future of UK ports, saying it failed to protect the environmentally sensitive site.

The newly-formed Infrastructure Planning Commission will be guided by the statement if Associated British Ports (ABP) submits another proposal to develop Dibden Bay.

Critics say the document demands a market-led approach to port expansion instead of calling for new docks to be built in the least damaging places.

A report to New Forest District Council’s ruling Cabinet said: “The statement does not indicate the locations at which further port capacity could be provided.

“This is to be determined through competition ‘subject to developers satisfying decision-makers that the likely impacts of any proposed development have been addressed’.

“This provides an inadequate basis for the commission to properly determine proposals.

“The statement should be clearer about the appropriate locations for major port development, having regard to international designations, impacts on local communities and other relevant considerations.”

Councillors stressed the need for proper safeguards, saying it said it was “inevitable” that ABP would submit another application.

Chris Elliott, head of the council’s planning and development control unit, warned that the new policy statement failed to reflect the importance of the recently created New Forest National Park, which adjoins Dibden Bay.

David Harrison, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition group, was also scathing.

He said: “Here we see not only an attempt to move the goal posts but the possibility of replaying the match with the goal posts set wider apart.”

Cabinet members agreed that the council should lobby the Department for Transport in a bid to save Dibden Bay.

The authority will call for any new docks to be built in places where they will have a minimal impact on local communities.

ABP’s application to construct a £600m container terminal at Dibden Bay was rejected by the Government in 2004 following a 13-month public inquiry.

Ministers refused to allow the scheme because of its effect on nationally and internationally important wildlife sites.

But ABP’s Port of Southampton Masterplan, published last summer, predicts that the docks will see a surge in trade over the next 20 years.

The document claims that Dibden Bay is the only suitable site for much-needed port expansion.

http://www.thisishampshire.net/archive/2010/02/05/++News+-++Latest+Headlines/4909826.Another_Dibden_Bay_plan____is_inevitable___/