125 Dock Workers could loose jobs due to drop in trade

125 Dock Workers could be looking jobs after q drop in containers volumes going through the Port of Liverpool. Peal Ports has said that the decision is:- "regrettable, but unavailable."

Liverpool is 1 of the UK's biggest ports and currently directly employs around 850 staff.

The formal consultation notices are scheduled to be issued over the next 45 days. We have been told that Peal Ports are currently in discussions with Union officials over the plans.

Despite a strung of heavy investments, in the Port of Liverpool, by the company Peal Ports, container volumes moving through the port has dropped. This investment includes the high profile £400 million to create Liverpool2, a new deep water container terminal, that enables largest vessels to unload at the port. Also, in May 2023,·Peel Ports Group said it was investing £28 million on a new facility at the Port of Liverpool in its biggest single investment in warehousing at the Mersey River Port. That's not forgetting in June 2023, the operator also made an investment of £105million upgrading the 95 year old dock entrance to assist vessels entering and leaving the port. Along with other investments to attract new business to the Port, economic issues around the world and in the UK appears not to have enabled the predicted growth to take place.

According to the UK Office of National Statistics (ONS) goods imports fell from both EU and non-EU countries recently. . Not only that, but UK exports to European Union dropped in volume. Many businesses experts suggest that this fall is probably because of Brexit trade frictions and the global economic climate, over the last few years. It is hoped that things will start to improve, but this is a long-term view and will not help the current situation.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Are you affected by the potential job losses? Please email our Newsroom with your views on this news topic, via emailing:-  at:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com or send us a message on:-  Mastodon, Facebook or Twitter.

Campaign questions National Highways' role in key Port Access Group

THE campaign group Save Rimrose Valley has written to Katherine Fairclough, the Chief Executive of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA), and Chair of its Port Access Steering Group (PASG).

The letter calls for greater transparency on the remit of the group, its membership, its work, and questions why meeting agendas and minutes aren't made publicly available, with the group being governed by a public entity, namely the Combined Authority.

It goes on to ask why National Highways, the Government's road building agency, is participating in a subgroup of PASG which was set up specifically to explore non-road solutions to port access, claiming it to be a conflict of interest.

It concludes by reminding the LCRCA of a commitment made in 2021 to deliver a full feasibility study on port access in South Sefton, presenting viable alternatives to National Highways' controversial Port of Liverpool Access Scheme and requesting an update on the status of this piece of work.

Explaining the reasoning behind this letter, Stuart Bennett of Save Rimrose Valley said:- "We have long been calling for greater transparency around this group, the workings of which are critical to us securing a better outcome to the destructive road proposal on offer. Our politicians oppose the road project, but being able to point to viable alternatives is fundamental to this opposition being effective long-term. Given that the group is chaired by the LCRCA, which has made numerous commitments on the environment, public health, protecting green space, the climate emergency and traffic reduction, we would expect a road proposal on this scale to be right at the bottom of the list when it comes to the infrastructure needed to support the Port of Liverpool's expansion. Instead, while the likes of National Highways and Peel Ports get a seat at the table of PASG, there is seemingly no place for our communities to be given a voice. This is wrong, and we look forward to hearing how the LCRCA intends to address our concerns."

For details of the Save Rimrose Valley campaign, visit:- SaveRimroseValley.Org.