Another UK container port hit by workers' strike over pay

Peel Ports Group’s most recent filings with the UK’s Companies House show the business posted a profit of £141M (US$171M) during the 2020-2021 fiscal year, which ran from April 2020 to March 2021 and covered the first year of trade disruption and dislocation due to the coronavirus pandemic as well as increased disruption at UK ports from the impact of Brexit. In 2019, Peel Ports received UK Government funding to boost measures it had taken to improve resilience ahead of the UK’s departure from the EU. 

The documents, filed in January 2022 with Companies House, also show the group’s total financial takings decreased from £792M to £595M, which the business attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic and the sale of its marine support services business in July 2020. The accounts also show the number of people employed by the group dropped by roughly half, from 3,135 to 1,612 during the fiscal year. Peel Ports Group’s profits from 2020-2021 were notable in comparison to the business’ losses in FY 2019-2020 of nearly £100M. 

MDHC Peel Ports Group is, as Unite the Union pointed out, headquartered in the Isle of Man, a UK tax haven and majority owned by British billionaire John Whittaker, who is chairman of the Peel Group, which holds stakes in property, media and infrastructure businesses such as port operations and management.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said, “What’s happening at MDHC is another example of why workers in this country have had enough. Once again, a profitable company controlled by a tax-exiled billionaire is refusing to give its workers a cost-of-living pay rise. Our members at MDHC have Unite’s complete backing and support in these strikes for a fair pay rise.”

Dates for the strike have not yet been set, according to Unite.

Peel Ports Group said, "The entire industry faces volume stagnation due to ongoing issues with worldwide economic pressures, the conflict in Ukraine and global shipping disruption. Strike action during this time is not helpful to anyone and risks further disrupting an already volatile supply chain.”

Another strike by 1,900 workers at the UK’s Felixstowe port, organised by Unite, is scheduled to run from 21-29 August. The Port of Felixstowe said the workers’ union had rejected an improved pay offer from the company after members served notice of industrial action in early August.

Workers from the union and the employer, the Felixstowe Dock and Railway Co, met again 8 August to agree on new terms after a previous pay dispute. The employer said it had improved its previous offer by offering a £500 lump sum in addition to the 7% increase, which was rejected.

Analysis from vessel valuation firm VesselsValue gave an indication of the potential for disruption from the Felixstowe strike. Felixstowe has handled 713 container ships in the last 12 months, behind only London Gateway and Southampton. However, it has berthed a greater proportion of the larger ship types than either of those two. This includes 175 of the very largest container ships, the ultra large container ships, compared with Southampton’s 80 and London Gateway’s 40.

Analysts have estimated the financial impact of the strike to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, with congestion problems further exacerbated as container lines shift port calls to ports in the EU to avoid strikes.

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