Contship faithful to Gioia Tauro
". . . it is unrealistic to think that Gioia Tauro will disappear from the map." CECILIA BATTISTELLO
While Spanish ports continue to do well, future investment planning at Italy's Gioia Tauro has been cast into doubt following recent strikes in both December and February.Relations between majority-owner Conthship Italia and a new leftwing trade union (SDL) are at a low ebb, despite the fact that the average net income at Gioia Tauro port is ¢ 3,000 per annum higher than is found among other workers in the region and ¢ 2,000 higher than the average net income across Italian ports as a whole.
She insists that her company remains committed to Gioia Tauro, but that in order to be successful the port has to be able to offer both reliability and productivity. "Shipping lines are deploying ever larger ships,which means that their owners cannot even afford to lose one hour; handling of boxes has to be done quickly,"she says.
However,the uncertainty over labour relations is impacting negatively on the company's investment programme. Contship Italia has earmarked investment of ¢214m up to 2011, of which ¢50m is being spent right now. In all, 350 new jobs could be created immediately, with up to 1,800 slated by 2011. But new cranes and new jobs are wholly dependent on what the future holds.
"I don't think it is realistic to think that Gioia Tauro will disappear from the map of the world," says Mrs Battistello."It may remain as it is now, or it could be doing a whole lot more business in the near future. However, if we get a reputation for unreliability, customers will leave. To date, none have so far pulled out all together, but several ships have had to temporarily divert cargo to other ports during the strikes."
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