200 jobs at risk over plan by ferry operator DFDS to close routes to two ports

FERRY OPERATOR DFDS is to close its routes between Dublin and the English ports of Birkenhead and Heysham in a move described by union officials as “a most serious development for Dublin Port”.

Siptu, which represents workers in DFDS, said it would meet its members and management of the Danish ferry operator about the termination of the routes and details of a redundancy package on Monday. Of about 200 jobs affected as a result of the route closures, some 60 of the workers are based in Dublin.

The two routes will cease at the end of January, with three ships attached to the services moving off the Irish Sea as a result.

DFDS, which controls a fifth of the freight market between the Republic and Britain through the routes, decided to close the routes as a result of a steep decline in activity in 2008 and 2009 as the economy contracted.

Siptu official Ken Fleming blamed the route closures on the over-issuing of licences to shipping companies at a time when the Irish ferry trade is stagnant, which he said had resulted in wage deflation and poor working conditions.

John Sheehan, an equities analyst specialising in the transport sector at NCB Stockbrokers, said the global downturn coupled with the capacity that had been added in recent years resulted in a “major oversupply” in the market.

The move may help DFDS’s competitors P+O, SeaTruck, Stena and Irish Ferries recover volumes and yields as they pick up its freight custom. DFDS’s move follows the closure by Stena of its Larne-Fleetwood route, which was serviced by three ships.

Meanwhile, the Competition Authority has decided to carry out a full investigation in relation to the proposed sale by DFDS to Stena of ferries servicing its routes between Belfast and Liverpool and Belfast and Heysham.