F/liner axes 200 jobs after £0.5m loss
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FREIGHTLINER is to shed 200 jobs after recording a £0,5m loss for the first half of 1981, and it is worried about the possible effects of a rail strike.
Speaking in Glasgow this oveek, managing director Cyril Bleasdale blamed the decline in the British Rail subsidiary's fortunes on the home market and over-capacity in road haulage, with its resultant pressure on rates.
Compared with 1980, revenue was down £0.4m, and coupled with pressure on margins and higher operating costs, the trading profit was £1.3m below the same period last year.
Total carryings were down by seven per cent to 373,000 TEUs (20ft equivalent units), which is 27,000 fewer than the same period last year, with Irish traffic being the worst hit sector at 14 per cent down. Mr Bleasdale warned of further trouble if there is a national rail strike next month. It would cost the company £1.5m a week, and Freightliner's power of recovery would be severely affected.
He believes the company's most urgent task is to recover the loss, and has planned a package of economies. "We are in danger of pricing ourselves out, but expect to improve productivity, following a breakthrough agreement with the National Union of Railwaymen on crane manning, and by reducing resources and making cutbacks in administrative costs," he said.
The company plans to mothball its Dudley terminal in the West Midlands, and transfer operations to Birmingham. Up to 40 jobs could disappear as a result.
Another 100 jobs could go with a reduction in the size of the Willesden, North London, terminal, and 40 jobs will be axed when the headquarters move out of London. An early retirement scheme is planned for senior management.
Mr Bleasdale predicted a £2m turnround as a resut of these proposals, and said he was optimistic that the stringent measures would enable the company not only to survive, but to be competitive and profitable again.