Felixstowe Docks in trouble?

cobra_kid

mewbie wrote: »

That senior team would consist of the idiot Paul Davey who said that the recession would not affect the docks because...

"Cheaper is often bigger, for example a CD player rather than an iPod. People eat more now than they used to.
"So there is a need for bigger ships and more space to accommodate them."

What a plonker.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk/content/articles/2008/07/23/port_felixstowe_wr_feature.shtml

You may think that; I could not possibly comment!

Vinegartits

SingleSue wrote: »

Do you know the thing that amazes me?

That there are so many Felixstowe bods on here! I MUST know at least one of you from my time working in and around the docks.

Sue, from what I can work out, Agent Orange, Jetski, Cobra and I are genuine, the jury is still out on Lear Jet and the rest are Pickles!

mewbie_2

cobra_kid wrote: »

You may think that; I could not possibly comment!

lol - yeah I was trying to get you workers into trouble.

Not really, but when I first started asking about the Port, realising we had Pickles on here who might know something, I found that article and realised that it seemed that bloke didn't seem to know his .... from his elbow either.

I couldn't understand why Pickles kept saying all was OK, when the rest of the civilised world appeared to be crumbling. Maybe it's just the company [STRIKE]lie[/STRIKE] line.

SingleSue

I would agree Mewbie with the company line thing, I remember in the last recession when the shipping line I was working for was finding things a little tight on finances. Umpteem dock runners were coming in (dock runners were the people who worked for the forwarders in the main who would lodge the bills of lading with the shipping lines and customs docs with customs) asking about the rumours of us moving out of the port.

Of course, we had all been fed the company line and was repeating it verbatim to whoever asked......then on the first day back after the new year break a number of us were called into the MD's office and told we were being made redundant effective end of March as the company was relocating the operation to Southampton.

I was in the first wave of redundancies and although I didn't feel lucky at the time, it worked out better as I obtained a job before the notice period was over, those in the second and third wave of redundancies really struggled to obtain further employment.

Vinegartits

SingleSue wrote: »

I would agree Mewbie with the company line thing, I remember in the last recession when the shipping line I was working for was finding things a little tight on finances. Umpteem dock runners were coming in (dock runners were the people who worked for the forwarders in the main who would lodge the bills of lading with the shipping lines and customs docs with customs) asking about the rumours of us moving out of the port.

Of course, we had all been fed the company line and was repeating it verbatim to whoever asked......then on the first day back after the new year break a number of us were called into the MD's office and told we were being made redundant effective end of March as the company was relocating the operation to Southampton.

I was in the first wave of redundancies and although I didn't feel lucky at the time, it worked out better as I obtained a job before the notice period was over, those in the second and third wave of redundancies really struggled to obtain further employment.

Good point Sue, the first may turn out to be the lucky ones.

mewbie_2

SingleSue wrote: »

...those in the second and third wave of redundancies really struggled to obtain further employment.

All interesting stuff Sue, and particularly the bit I have quoted above. What a choice - get out early and find something else, or wait and hang on. Scary times and tough decisions.

SingleSue

Yep! The problem the others had was that Hapag Lloyd and another line (can't remember the name) went bang, so there were loads from those companies on the look out for jobs.

We picked up a fair few of the Hapag Lloyd refugees and a couple from the old company I worked at...it was my job to train the newbies!

Those newbies later became my bosses when I returned to shipping after my 3rd child was born...most frustrating, I had taught them to check for correctly endorsed bills of lading, difference between LCL and a full container load, various customs clearance docs and most importantly...customer services to adhere to BS5750 (god that was mind numbing training).

I think that was why my experience was so attractive, I had worked in various different parts of the shipping process so could take on a wider role in the import department.

blakester

mewbie wrote: »

All interesting stuff Sue, and particularly the bit I have quoted above. What a choice - get out early and find something else, or wait and hang on. Scary times and tough decisions.

Would a choice be on offer do you think Mewbie? Would it more likely to be a management decision to say who goes as opposed to individuals having the choice.

Vinegartits

Sue, sorry just realised I didn't include YOU in the genuine Felixstowe posters, I thought it went without saying!

SingleSue

Lol.....no worries.

Think because I am one of the quieter ones and one who never actually worked for the port but for companies associated with the business of it, that I tend to be forgotten (in a nice way).

To be honest, I hadn't actually noticed!