Gothenburg makes redundancies in bid to cut costs

“The Port of Gothenburg reflects the state of Swedish industry and we have been hit hard by the recession. Consequently, we have been forced to announce redundancies, which is something which we had hoped we could avoid as far as possible,” said Magnus Kårestedt, Port of Gothenburg chief executive.

There has been an adjustment programme in place at the Port since last October to improve flexibility and efficiency and at the same time reduce manning costs by the equivalent of 100 full-time employees. In the meantime volume forecasts have fallen, resulting in an acute need to cut costs. “The adjustment process that has commenced will continue, but if we are to avoid substantial losses for 2009 redundancies are unfortunately necessary,” said Kårestedt.

The Port of Gothenburg has 1,000 permanent employees, including 670 dock workers, 100 production supervisors and foremen and 230 white-collar staff. It also has a pool of 220 workers who can be brought in when required.