Dockers' action may drive hauliers from Southampton
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• The roll-on/roll-off berths at Southampton are in danger of losing their ferry traffic to Portsmouth, Newhaven and Shoreham. This opinion was expressed this week by members of the Road Haulage Association who use the port and was confirmed by officials of the TGWU in Southampton.
Members of the union employed by the Southampton. Cargo Handling Company are alleged to be disrupting operations at the berth by refusing to allow haulage drivers to drive their vehicles on and off the ferries. The union employees claim that, under an agreement made in 1964, this is dock labour work.
Mr S. Hocking, a dock labour officer of the TGWU, told CM on Tuesday that until recently his members had been content to sit in the cab of all vehicles moving on and off ferries, but they now demand the right to drive the vehicles because they feared that, with the increase in accompanied traffic, their jobs might be disappearing. The trade union official admitted that he was "between the devil and the deep blue sea" since both the drivers and the dockers were members of his union.
'Splitting' operation
As an interim measure in a dispute which has apparently not yet received official union backing, lorry drivers are dropping their semi-trailers on either the ferry or the dockside. The docker then moves the semi-trailer on to or off the ferry with a slave tractor and the hauliers' tractive unit is re-connected once the semi-trailer is in its new position. Mr Hocking said he failed to see what objection there could be to this method of working since the haulier was not paying any more than he had done under the old arrangement.
Mr A. Rowthorn, manager of Southampton Cargo Handling, said that the situation was confused. Before the "splitting" operation dockers had been refusing to handle some vessels, but there was no pattern to their actions.
Insurance risk
Hauliers are concerned that their vehicles are being handled by dockers, particularly since it could seriously affect their insurance coverage. One operator pointed out that his CMR insurance required him to guarantee that his drivers were over 23 years of age and that all persons handling his vehicles were employed by him. The handling of these vehicles by a third party, he pointed out, could jeopardize his entire insurance coverage.
Already some haulage contractors are withdrawing their traffic from Southampton and moving through other ports, and the two ferry companies involved — Thorensen and Normandy Ferries — are reported to be concerned at the re-direction of traffic. A Road Haulage Association official said this week that he believed active consideration was now being given to the development of Portsmouth where dock labour problems were non-existent, although this would mean extension of the dock area to provide rollan/roll-off facilities. At both Shoreham and Newhaven such facilities are already in existence.
With the opening of M4, giving speedy access to both London and the Midlands, the threat of Bristol as a challenger for some Southampton traffic has been readily recognized.