Most of the jobs affected are in Hong Kong and Rotterdam, while two or three people based in Felixstowe and working in the department’s European division are thought to have left.
HPH declined to give details of the move but a spokesman said: “We assess all aspects of our business on a regular basis and plan our resources according to market developments.”
HPH decentralised business development activities to divisional level in 2006. “It [business development] forms part of the planning for each division but there are no specific departments as such. Individuals may be assigned specific projects on a case-by-case basis. Thus, heads of different geographies have been managing business development projects within their respective territories since then.”
All HPH regions will continue to look for opportunities “but these have to reflect the prevailing market conditions”, said the spokesman. “HPH will continue to assess investments globally on a case-by-case basis and there is no change to our policy in this regard.”