Port services company Steveco to cut jobs
Management says strikes and competition hurt profitability
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The port services company Steveco, which handles cargo in the ports of Kotka and Hamina in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland, has announced impending negotiations with all personnel groups aimed at cutting costs equivalent to about 300 man-work years.
The company says that harbour operations have become less profitable. Last year the company, which employs about 1,300 people, made EUR 142 million in profits.
"The whole early part of the year was very bad for the company for many reasons. To top it all off came the labour dispute in the forest industry. Forest industry products comprise about half of the volume of goods handled at harbours", says Heikki Marttinen, the company’s acting CEO.
"We need to examine the company’s activities in this connection in light of long-term contracts and future flows of goods. The conclusion is that a company of about 1,000 people will survive, if operations are re-arranged."
Marttinen promises that during the process, the company will take the life situations and social needs of the personnel into consideration as well as possible.
Steveco administrative chief Ari Saari says that whereas previously harbours competed against each other, the competition now takes place within the harbours.
At the Port of Kotka, Steveco now faces competition from the Helsinki-based Finnsteve, and the local Eaglesteve. In Hamina, the competitor is the local company HMT.
International transit traffic has also changed character in that there is more competition within Finland. Russia has significantly increased its own capabilities for transport in the Baltic Sea region, and is less dependent on seaports in other countries for its international trade.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 21.6.2005 - TODAY |
 Port services company Steveco to cut jobs
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