Hutchison eyes more cost cuts at Felixstowe.

I AM POSTING THIS PRESS ARTICLE FROM LLOYDS LIST BECAUSE IT HAS A LITTLE MORE INFORMATION THAN IN THE EA DAILY TIMES ARTICLE. IT IS NOT ANOTHER ROUND OF JOB CUTS YET.

http://lloydslist.com/ll/news/viewArticle.htm;jsessionid=826E6B13D93481F22ED8BD86FFA9A4E4?articleId=20017619005&printable=true

REDUCED hours, fewer shifts and career breaks of up to 12 months are some of the options being offered to workers at the Port of Felixstowe as Hutchison Ports (UK) looks to cut costs in response to falling volumes.
After making 20 management and administration jobs compulsorily redundant in Felixstowe’s container division a few weeks ago, HPUK is now in talks with unions about making further savings.
“We are looking to reduce costs in response to the economic downturn,” said HPUK head of corporate communications Paul Davey. “We are in discussions with unions to identify cost savings and what we are offering at the moment is a range of measures which include reduced hours per week, fewer shifts, or career breaks where workers will be paid a portion of their basic wage — they will be paid 25% of basic and can then take a break for one to 12 months.”
Voluntary severance was also on the table, he added. “What we want to stress is that these measures are all voluntary and one option on offer is redundancy.”
Mr Davey said the number of voluntary redundancies would depend on the take-up of the alternative options. But he emphasised that the various options were not open to everybody. “We are keen to retain as many people and skills as we can. There are some skills and positions where we don’t have a surplus and in these cases we are not offering these measures,” he said.
Throughput at Felixstowe was down 16% year on year in January and overall volumes for 2009 are expected to be significantly down on 2008, HPUK chief operating officer David Gledhill told employees in a letter.
“A reduction of this size means that the port will have substantial spare capacity and labour. We are very keen to keep as many people and skills as possible so that we are in a good position to capitalise on any recovery in 2010.”
There have also been job losses at DP World Southampton, the UK’s second largest container terminal after Felixstowe, where volumes have also fallen dramatically.
“There have been some redundancies this year within our contractor workforce combined with a reduction of the guaranteed hours worked by certain categories of that labour force,” said DP World Southampton managing director Campbell Mason.
“The situation is under review in the current economic climate and we cannot rule out that there may be further adjustments to manning levels.”
Other UK ports cutting back include Hull, where Associated British Ports saw a 30% decrease in timber volumes in 2008 and a 10% fall in containers, and steel imports have ground to a halt.
“Unfortunately we have had 16 redundancies in Hull,” said Matt Jukes, ABP port director for Hull and Goole.
“A lot of companies are having to streamline and we are no exception. We are looking at working arrangements to make sure we maximise the efficiency of what we are doing. And we have to keep that under review.
“These are tough times and we have to react. But we are keeping an eye on the horizon and the opportunities of some big investment schemes beyond all of this.”
At Immingham, DFDS Tor Line last month announced plans to cut about 70 jobs at its Nordic Terminal, as a result of falling volumes in the automotive, building and steel sectors, and also because of a backdated rates bill of £9.9m ($14.1m).
“We are in consultation with the unions at the moment and exploring a number of different options or alternatives to redundancies, so it is possible we may bring the number down,” said DFDS UK managing director Jens Nielsen.