Felixstowe Docks in trouble?

Trollfever

You can see the impact on Los Angeles here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/business/2008/the_box/default.stm

mr.broderick

chuckles1066 wrote: »

It's worse than that; following the problems in the financial sector in the US, uncertainty has now hit Japan.

In the last 7 days Origami Bank has folded, Sumo Bank has gone belly up and Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some of its branches.

Yesterday, it was announced that Karaoke Bank is up for sale and will likely go for a song, while today shares in Kamikaze Bank were suspended after they nose-dived.

While Samurai Bank is soldiering on following sharp cutbacks, Ninja Bank is reported to have taken a hit, but they remain in the black.

Furthermore, 500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop and analysts report that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank where it is feared that staff may get a raw deal.

Think i remember mewbie or one of his alias' anyway posting this a while ago. He won't be happy with you trying to steal his thunder...

mewbie_2

mr.broderick wrote: »

Think i remember mewbie or one of his alias' anyway posting this a while ago. He won't be happy with you trying to steal his thunder...

Not me or one of my aliases actually, but thank you for thinking of me.

mr.broderick

mewbie wrote: »

Not me or one of my aliases actually, but thank you for thinking of me.

You are welcome.

SingleSue

lynzpower wrote: »

I thought Pickles worked at Felixstowe docks and business was booming, only a few weeks ago?

Am trying to find old thread as im sure we discussed tihs?

Pickles actually posted a week or so ago about concerns.

pickles110564

Vinegartits wrote: »

I have just heard that one of the terminals has been closed and that all ships are being diverted to the other.
This has not been confirmed.

This has monumental implications for import/export, the area and all the businesses that rely on the port not to mention the country and implies that business has halved.
This terminal equates to a very very small % of cargo through the Port and IF it does close and all the business is being transfered to other Terminals at the Port.
Scary times.

To have this information must mean that you work for the PORT and i am prepared to discuss in great detail in private about the scare mongering you are trying to deliver.

pickles110564

jetski690 wrote: »

It has not happened yet, not until the new year but trade is expected to be really low after Christmas and they can consolidate everything onto one terminal and is meant to be a big cost saving to the company, That though usually means the customers will suffer which they will. There is work presently on going for a new terminal to open in 2010 which will replace the one that closes but with the way they treat their customers and the productivity rate we achieve it will be a wonder if they will have any left to make use of it.

You should know better!

SingleSue

Vinegartits wrote: »

The problem is not confined to the docks but affects all the businesses dependent on it. I suspect that the area will be changed beyond recognition by what is happening - shops are closing, recruitment is non-existent, haulage and import/export companies large and small are reducing their workforces either by getting rid of their temps and introducing a recruitment and overtime ban or by making redundancies.

I think it is happening relatively quickly because import/export is an early indicator in a recession so what we are seeing happening at Felixstowe docks will ripple out over the country as a whole and may even give an indication of how hard and deep this recession is going to be. If it is any help, a friend who owns one of the affected businesses, well established over many years, is terrified and has never seen anything like it. Anyone who isn't scared at the moment cannot really understand the full extent of the problem imho.

Very true, it was frightening looking in our local paper a couple of nights ago to see a forwarder/haulier that I know well has gone to the wall.

My bush telegraph is not working too well at the moment as I am not working in the offices to get the gossip but I do still get a little (pickles has helped too), it was bad enough in the last recession...goodness knows what it is going to be like this time around.

mewbie_2

Sounds like MSE got a scoop. The thing about information, which can be called scare mongering I suppose, is that it can enable people to make decisions rather than waiting to be drip fed the company / government line.

Vinegartits

pickles110564 wrote: »

To have this information must mean that you work for the PORT and i am prepared to discuss in great detail in private about the scare mongering you are trying to deliver.

I thought it was common knowledge, it normally is by the time it reaches me.

As I have said before, I am not anything to do with the docks although I belong to an organisation, shall we say, where business people gather and discuss such things and quite a few of these people are involved in or have businesses attached to, or dependent on, the docks in one way or another. I am not and never have been a "scaremonger", I am simply repeating what has been told to me by more than one person in an open, and not hush-hush, way. Hope that clears things up for you.