Ferry strike causes ports havoc
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• Britain's lorry drivers were bracing themselves for a night on the docks as the National Union of Seamen began a nationwide 48-hour strike in the early hours of Tuesday 2 February which will affect traffic from British ports to France, Belgium, Holland, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Scottish isles.
As Commercial Motor went to press last Tuesday, the union said that industrial action had started at Harwich, Felixstowe, Oban, Stranraer, Fleetwood, Belfast, Larne and Holyhead. NUS members at Dover, Portsmouth and Fishguard were meeting to decide what action to take — and the union was poised to extend the 48hour action to an all-out strike which could force hauliers to stay at home.
Felixstowe's two lunchtime sailings to Zeebrugge and Europoort were under threat and the port authorities expected major delays and tailbacks in the event of an all-out strike, P&O reported the cancellation of one of its sailings from Lame to Stranraer early on Tuesday and predicted that a day sailing to Larne would be forced to stay there.
Tniddine in Poole said that its only sailing to be delayed was due to weather. The NUS strike would have no effect on Trucldine as all its crew mem bers are French, the company claimed.
Dover Harbour remained optimistic that hauliers would not suffer any tailbacks, despite the closedown of services on two British Sealink ferries. The harbour board said that as P&O services, SNCF Sealink and Belgium ferries were all running normally, there would be no delays. "P&O's two super ferries, the Pride of Dover and the Pride of Calais are so big they could clear a full Dover car park in one sailing," said a harbour spokesman.
Although ports like Dover and Portsmouth are able to rely on foreign vessels, they are vulnerable to international support for the strike. Members of two powerful French unions, the CGT and the CFDT were meeting on Tuesday in Calais and Boulogne to consider supporting the NUS dispute.
The strike follows a sixweek dispute with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, which wants to impose changes in working hours and leave time. The NUS, however, says that the strike is not in reaction to the Isle of Man dispute, but is a protest over what the union calls the operators' desire to break away from existing hours and conditions agreements.
The union says that the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company is being used to test the water, and that an increase in hours and a cut in leave time would be imposed by ferry operators' throughout the UK pending on the outcome of the Steam Packet's confrontation with the NUS. Steam Packet is 42% owned by Sealink. • Latest reports are that the NUS is going ahead with an all-out strike — despite a court injunction banning it.