To make up a personnel shortfall due to Covid, BLG is using the services of two additional companies at the AutoTerminal Bremerhaven (ATB) for a period of a few weeks. Their staff are helping with stowing and lashing work as well as rail vehicle unloading. This solution does not put a single job at ATB at risk.
Andrea Eck, CEO Automobile, explained: "This move is necessary in order to regain our customers' trust in ATB and to secure jobs in a difficult competitive environment."
Since the end of last year, absentee rates have soared due to the coronavirus pandemic leading to infected and quarantined employees. On some days, one in five employees are off work. This has resulted in a backlog of vehicles awaiting processing.
The missing personnel could not be made up by GHB or personnel service providers, because these companies were also affected by the pandemic.
However, the backlog is resulting in several customers already rerouting their ship and rail calls to competitor ports in Zeebrügge, Antwerp and Koper. "We have to make sure our locations doesn't lose volume in the long term. That's why we need to work off the backlog as quickly as possible. It's the customers who secure our employees' jobs, not the other way round," says Eck.
The two companies will only be used until the personnel situation has normalized and the backlog has been eliminated. Wages are according to the wage bargaining agreements applicable in the port.
