German sea ports start first round of redundancies
The global economic crisis has led to the first dismissals of port workers in several German sea ports
The ports of Bremerhaven/Bremen have announced that they will dismiss 1400 workers from the GHB labour pool, which has 2400 workers, by the end of 2009. Already 200 posts have been shed. Container business in Bremerhaven has gone down by 25% so far this year and the volume of export automobile handling is off by 50%.
Several port operators are having talks with union representatives about shorter working hours, although Eurogate has stated that it is not yet considering such a regime. Since the beginning of February Eurogate has cut the number of GHB personnel from 300 to 100, but has said that it has no plans to cut its own workforce of 5000.
In Rostock the local GHB has agreed to apply for shorter working hours for at least 69 people. Rüdiger Kamrau, managing director of GHB Rostock, said that he is making all efforts to increase training procedures for the pool’s employees.
In Hamburg the GHB has organised shorter working hours for 700 of its 1100 employees. Due to the declining container volumes the demand for additional workers from the GHB has been reduced by 40% and time-limited work contracts for 200 workers are under review.
Jürgen Hildebrandt, managing director of GHB Hamburg said that he will do everything to avoid dismissals. He also will use the present situation to organise additional training.
In Sassnitz around 50 port workers have been put on shorter working hours and the situation in Wismar is similar. The seaports of Niedersachsen are faring somewhat better, however. “The main problem is in the container business and this is not so important in our ports,” said ports’ spokesman Werner Repenning.
Germany’s and Europe’s largest inland port Duisburg has also announced that it plans to make cuts in its labour force of 550, although Duisport Group offers a wide range of facilities and services that are not directly affected.
Klaus Heitmann, managing director of ZDS (German Seaports Operators Association), said that the 16 German sea ports employed a total of 12,300 people at the end of 2008.
