Are we going to get this at Felixstowe?

Maersk reports 1,000th vessel call for US West Coast fuel switch

http://www.eyefortransport.com/content/maersk-reports-1000th-vessel-call-us-west-coast-fuel-switch

Maersk Line's environmental initiative to switch to cleaner fuel at North American West Coast ports has reached the milestone of the 1000th vessel call.
111 vessels have participated in the program since its inception in 2006. The initiative has reduced Maersk Line's vessel-related air emissions by more than 2,400 tons when calling the ports of Los Angeles and Oakland in California, Tacoma in Washington and Vancouver in Canada.
Maersk Line's pilot program is part of the company's on-going commitment to environmentally responsible operations. The program has been aligned with and supports the significant air quality improvement efforts by the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California's Goods Movement Action Plan, the California Air Resources Board initiatives and the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy to improve air quality in these ports.
This continuing initiative provides substantial reductions in key pollutants that have potential health effects. Maersk Line has achieved an 86% annual reduction in particulate matter, a 95% reduction in sulphur oxides (SOx), and a 12% reduction in nitrogen oxides (NOx).
The first vessel that performed the fuel switch was Sine Maersk in Los Angeles on March 31st, 2006. There were 212 switches in 2006, 351 in 2007, 425 in 2008 and twelve through January 20th, 2009.
Maersk Line voluntarily switches from bunker fuel (with relatively high sulphur content) to low-sulphur distillate fuel on the main and auxiliary engines of its vessels while underway in port areas and in the auxiliaries while in California ports, and in the auxiliary engines while at dock in Tacoma and Vancouver.

Containership lay-ups set to triple in 2010

http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/news/viewArticle.htm?articleId=20017622932

ONE quarter of the world’s containership fleet will be in lay-up by 2011 and freight rate will not pick up significantly until 2014, Claus-Peter Offen, one of Germany’s largest shipowners, has forecast.
“About 1m teu is already idle. This number will double in 2009 and triple in 2010,” the shipowner told a ship finance forum in Hamburg.
Mr Offen plans to lay up 10 containerships, each with a capacity of 1,200 teu-2,500 teu.
“Lay-ups are necessary to cope with the current crisis,” Mr Offen told the eighth annual German ship finance forum, arguing that the market for containerships is suffering from massive overcapacity.
“Since we do not know when demand is coming back we had to concentrate on the supply side,” he said. “But we won’t see as many cancellations of [containership] newbuildings and scrappings as in the bulker sector.”

Felixstowe Radio broadcasting

We are happy to announce that we have been granted an FM broadcast licence that will allow us to broadcast in Felixstowe, Walton, the Trimleys and surrounding areas. We should soon be heard as far away as Levington, in most of Harwich, in Bawdsey and out at sea!
And we shall be moving into our new premises at Great Eastern Square very soon.
We are a community interest company, working for the local area, with any profits retained and used to develop our services.

Official union website now online.

http://www.branch1609.org.uk/index.php

Latest news story... http://www.branch1609.org.uk/news.php?id=11

The Company’s proposed changes to The Port of Felixstowe Pension Plan.

The Company is proposing changes to the Final Salary Pension Plan. The Plan had a deficit of £71.5m as at 1st January 2007. The Company have held meeting with the Plan’s Trustees and will be holding meetings with the Union. The consultation period ends on 9th March 2009.The proposed changes are:
Change to Member Contribution Rates
Change to Early Retirement Terms.
Introduction of Limit on Pensionable Salary.
Introduction of Contributions to the Hutchison Ports (UK) Group Personal Pension Plan. The Company is now holding presentations with Pension Plan Members. Members will be advised of the outcome and changes to be made to the Plan will be confirmed prior to 1st April 2009

I hope one day they will add a link to my page!

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.

Idle boxships approach 10% of fleet

http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/news/idle-boxships-approach-10-of-fleet/20017617833.htm;jsessionid=11B207D3DD4A1E8FB9B4CC3A060A4132

CLOSE to 10% of the world’s container vessels are currently unemployed as owners and operators take drastic steps to bring supply into line with shrinking cargo demand.

New Lloyd’s MIU figures updated today show that 427 boxships are idle, representing 9.1% of the number of vessels in the world fleet.

The data indicates that considerably more containerships are at anchor than previously thought, particularly among smaller units.

In capacity terms, the inactive fleet stands at 828,009 teu, equivalent to 6.8% of the total.

Of the 427 ships that are idle, 41 units with combined slots of almost 270,000 teu have a nominal intake in excess of 5,000 teu.

Another 71 in the 2,501 teu-4,999 teu bracket are at anchor, while 138 ships in the 1,001 teu-2,500 teu category are without work.

In the smallest sector of ships with less than 1,000 teu capacity, there are 177 inactive vessels.

Don't forget

MASS MEETING
Thursday 12th February 2009
19:00hrs
at 70 SHED TRINITY TERMINAL

PLEASE MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ATTEND.