HTS to employ dock labour in new container depot
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Chairman tells CM why he turned away DPL bid
by CM reporter
• The Hilton Transport Services group of companies is to transfer its South London Inland Clearance activities from Charlton to Surrey Docks by the late summer.
Mr J. McNaughton, who was appointed chairman and managing director of the group following the resignation of the previous chairman, Mr Ralph Hilton, on April 2 this year, told CM on Monday that the group had acquired 10 acres of land, including 150,000 sq ft of warehousing, by the docks' Swedish yard, No. 16 gate. This would mean employing registered dock labour but the HTS board had considered that either it had
to do so or cease container stuffing activities at Charlton.
Mr McNaughton said container handling was recognized dock labour along the banks of the Thames and his company realized that to do other than engage dockers could result in industrial unrest. The matter had been under consideration for some time, but the previous chairman had been opposed to such a move.
SLIC will form part of a separate company in the group having its own board of directors with Mr McNaughton as chairman. The company will have engaged about 24 dockers before the end of the year, resulting in the employment of a further 30 drivers for new articulated outfits now on order.
"No one at HTS will be made redundant as a result of the move," said the chairman.
Fears that the differential between dockers' and drivers' conditions — both groups belong to the TGWU — might cause conflict, were dispelled by Mr McNaughton. The company had signed an agreement with both the union and the Dock Labour Board and he was satisfied that the drivers had accepted that the work at Surrey Docks should be undertaken by registered dock labour.
At Charlton, SLIC handles about 200 containers a week but Mr McN aughton has indicated that by the end of the year the volume will exceed 1200 every four weeks.
The new container handling area is being leased for three years. It is within that part of dockland zoned for a marina.
Mr McNaughton told CM that Dundee, Perth and London Sectrities had recently approached him with a view to purchasing HTS. "But," he said, "we are in the process of reorganizing the group and a takeover bid at today's value could not measure up to the potential of the company."