Industrial action Norfolkline Vlaardingen terminal

Den Haag, March 17^th, 2010

Norfolkline reports that operations at its Vlaardingen terminal are still disrupted after FNV Bondgenoten blocked two of the company’s  Ro/Ro vessels which were bound to sail to Felixstowe and Killingholme last night.

During the recent meetings with FNV Bondgenoten good progress was made to come to a new agreement which would serve the interest of Norfolkline staff and the continuity of the business.

As part of a wider package Norfolkline did offer an increase in salary for staff and, contrary to the union’s public statements, the company has also offered a one-off bonus for staff for both 2009 and 2010, close to the level demanded by the unions.

Norfolkline has also offered to pay increases in line with CPI increase, which has been accepted by the unions, and which in view of zero pay increases paid to all other Norfolkline staff in 2009 is considered very fair indeed.

The conflict is thus not about pay issues as claimed by the unions but in fact about demands made by the unions limiting the company’s abilities and rights to manage the operation in the most efficient manner for customers and staff.

Thomas Woldbye, CEO of Norfolkline, commented:

“We fully respect the unions’ right to fight for the benefits of their members and we believe the offer on the table already last week including CPI indexation for both 2009 and 2010 as well as one-off bonuses for both years is a rather generous one, considering the financial results of the company and the economic situation in general.

We are surprised and disappointed with the action of the unions, since the issues based on which the unions have decided to cease negotiations  are unrelated to pay and we fail to see how any of those demands benefit our people on the terminal.

These issues are related to management processes of the terminal, which we consider outside the unions domain, and they will limit management’s abilities to properly manage the terminal for its customers and hence in the long term also damage the opportunities for our people”.

Norfolkline is deeply concerned about the impact of the industrial action from FNV Bondgenoten which is causing considerable damage to the company both on a financial and commercial level.

Like others in the industry, Norfolkline is suffering from very difficult market conditions and has made a loss of Euro 7 millions in 2009. During the first two months of 2010 the Norfolkline operation in Vlaardingen has lost 2 million euros.

Against this background the company considers the actions by the union as irresponsible and out of proportion.

Norfolkline has made a strong appeal to FNV for termination of the industrial action and continuation of the negotiations on a new Collective Labour Agreement to the unions after the union walked away from discussions earlier this week.

Norfolkline would like to stress that – despite the very difficult financial position - it is making every effort to keep an open and constructive dialogue with the unions in order to come to a new Collective Labour Agreement.

At the same time Norfolkline is urging the unions - under the current economic climate - to maintain a realistic approach in the discussions and consider the negative impact of the disruptive actions at its Vlaardingen terminal.