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Ongoing industrial action in Gothenburg, Sweden

 

 

February 17, 2017

Dear Customer,

 

 
Since several months the container-terminal in the port of Gothenburg is affected by ongoing industrial action by the Swedish dockworkers union. In recent weeks the situation has unfortunately deteriorated, the conflict between APM Terminals and the dockworkers union is going on and currently there is no end in sight.

 

 
As a result of the conflict the operation of vessels is often restricted, the number of containers which can be loaded or discharged is regularly limited (sometimes we can even not load any containers), and there is hardly any flexibility in the handling of vessels. Besides a constant ban of overtime and workforce-restrictions the union is executing complete work-stoppages (strikes) on so far occasional basis. Another obstacle for both our customers and us is a delivery restriction which APM Terminals has enforced, currently containers are only allowed to be gated in 2 days prior to vessel sailing.
As a consequence operations at APMT Gothenburg became extremely unreliable and disruptive, serious delays of shipments cannot be avoided.

 

 
In order to minimize the negative impacts for you as much as possible we are trying to reduce volumes via Gothenburg by diverting shipments (both Export and Import) to other Swedish ports such as Helsingborg, Halmstad and Varberg whenever possible.

 

 
But at the same time we have to make you aware that –as a direct result of the limitations in Gothenburg- space from/to other Swedish ports is also becoming very tight.

 

 
We would like to point out that we are not able to absorb any additional costs arising from the unpleasant situation in Gothenburg. Any additional costs such as, but not limited to e.g. storage, haulage, fees for re-booking etc. are for account of the cargo.

 

 
The impact on the export- and import-industry and on shipping-lines is severe. We can only hope that the conflict will come to an end soon and in the meantime we will continue to do our utmost to minimize the impacts.
For further information, please contact your local Hapag-Lloyd office.
Kind Regards,
Hapag-Lloyd (Sweden) AB
as agent of Hapag-Lloyd AG

 

 

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