Port operator APM Terminals Gothenburg laying off 160 workers at the port of Gothenburg.

– It is a tough but necessary decisions. We are in a critical situation where blockades and strikes paralyzed our operations for over a year. We need to regain customer confidence and adjusting to the current volume, says CEO Henrik Kristensen, CEO of APM Terminals Gothenburg.

The majority of them are blue-collar port workers, but also officials ich temporary employees.

Negotiations will start in the next week, according to the union.

Gothenburg port has lost nearly 70 percent of production
According to Sophia Tuveson, HR and negotiator, the closure of the third night shift to occur around the end of the month. It has already been expended in the weeks during its mirror lockout since 19 May.

The cause of large layoffs in the port of Gothenburg is the long-running conflict between the Dockworkers Union and APMT which lasted almost a year and a half, where the Port of Four conducted a series of blockades and intermittent strikes.

Terminal Company during this period lost 20 percent of its total capacity, and load and unload now only about 3500 containers per week to normal about 10 000 containers.

The conflict has had a number of customers, including directly reaching large shipping companies to set all bookings at the container port in Gothenburg.

– It is tragic for us that we have to terminate skilled employees and I am sorry for it. But it is time for us to show common sense in the current situation and it is time that the Dockworkers Union agrees to contract, says CEO Henrik Kristensen.

http://www.gp.se/nyheter/ekonomi/storvarsel-i-g%C3%B6teborgs-hamn-1.4376721