Displaying items by tag: Furlough Dockers

30th January 2021

Operator Stena Line Furlough Quarter of Dockers at Holyhead Port due to Brexit & Covid Hit

Brexit Reality: As ferry company, Stena has placed them (dockers) on the UK Government wage scheme as they wait for demand to return (to the Port of Holyhead). As NorthWalesLive also highlighted a move that has also sparked fears arise, as the operator next week is to replace Stena Estrid (last Saturday deployed to Dublin-Cherbourg duties) with the smaller Ireland-France route's routine 'Visentini' class ro pax Stena Horizon pictured above by AFLOAT on a previous relief stint on the Irish Sea route.

Ferry operator Stena Line has placed a quarter if its dock workers at Holyhead on furlough as Covid and Brexit hit demand for services.

The ferry giant, reports NorthWalesLive, has seen a slump in trade since January 1 due to several factors.

This includes the continued impact of the pandemic on passenger numbers, trade disruption due to Brexit and stockpiling in December.

It has seen some weekend services cancelled and next week Stena Estrid (see related story) will be replaced by the smaller Stena Horizon on the route.

This has sparked fears over the long term impact on Holyhead port with a surge in trade on direct Ireland/EU mainland services and a switch by some operators to direct Belfast routes for goods to and from Northern Ireland.

Port officials remain calm about the situation with confidence that these are short term impacts exacerbated by the pandemic.

But they have taken the decision to temporarily reduce staff numbers dockside with a 25% cut in port services operators.

These workers - who help to dock vessels and the ferries to load and unload - have been placed on the UK Government's Job Retention Scheme.

Further reading here on the reality of such developments.

Published in Stena Line

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Competitions

The most significant events for the Half Ton Class has been the annual Half Ton Cup which was sailed under the IOR rules until 1993. More recently this has been replaced with the Half Ton Classics Cup. The venue of the event moved from continent to continent with over-representation on French or British ports. In later years the event is held biennially. Initially, it was proposed to hold events in Ireland, Britain and France by rotation. However, it was the Belgians who took the ball and ran with it. The Class is now managed from Belgium.