Siptu today met workers in ferry operator DFDS following the Dutch company's announcement it is to close its routes between Dublin and the English ports of Birkenhead and Heysham.
Officials at Siptu said the move is “a most serious development for Dublin Port”. Of about 200 jobs affected as a result of the route closures, some 48 of the workers are based in Dublin, and the union met its port & docks members this morning.
According to Siptu official Ken Fleming, the union will meet management at the company tomorrow. He said it was hoped agreement would be reached on redundancy packages for staff and said the company was well aware of the efforts made by workers employed by it.
Mr Fleming described DFDS as a good employer, whose staff were fairly paid and well-treated.
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.
"The market conditions in the area are quite simply too difficult and unfortunately we do not envisage any improvement in the near future," Niels Smedegaard, DFDS chief executive, said in a statement.
Mr 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 amid "fierce competition".
The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association said the move to close both the Dublin-Birkenhead and the Dublin-Heysham routes "has sent shock waves through the transport sector, adding there was a potential knock-on impact on business and jobs".
"Besides the significant inconvenience caused, the decision will reduce the level of competition on routes to the UK and the continent, leading to higher charges for transport companies," chief executive Mark Fielding said. "It will reduce the capacity and choice, increasing costs for sea freight at a time when the country is heavily reliant on the export sector for future growth."
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.