Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Giant cruise ship sails into Lerwick strike storm

The giant MS Europa 2 vessel is sailing into a storm.
The giant MS Europa 2 vessel is sailing into a storm.

Lerwick port bosses have insisted it is business as usual as they prepare to welcome the giant Europa 2 cruise ship to the harbour, despite a planned strike.

The Hapag-Lloyd Cruises-owned Europa 2, weighing 47,000 gross tons, is currently sailing between Germany and Denmark.

It is scheduled to arrive into Lerwick and an industrial storm at midday on Monday.

Lerwick Harbour
Lerwick harbour.

Negotiations between Unite the Union and Lerwick Port Authority to avert a hugely damaging strike at the harbour seem to have collapsed.

A dozen port workers are due to walk out at one minute past midnight on Monday – some 12 hours before Europa 2’s arrival.

The colossal seven-deck, 739ft-long liner normally carries up to 500 passengers and 370 crew.

LPA chief executive Calum Grains insisted the port will remain operational, with measures in place to minimise any disruption.

‘Disappointing’

Mr Grains added: “It is very disappointing our latest offer has been rejected without any constructive proposals from Unite.

“We have offered to move shore staff onto a salaried remuneration to bring them in line with other departments and reduce working hours to improve work life balance as requested.

“Regrettably it appears strike action is now inevitable despite the earlier offers made and our repeated efforts to find a solution, which will continue.”

Cruise company keeps watch

A spokeswoman for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises said the company was in the process of “analysing the situation comprehensively”.

The cruise operator will inform its passengers “immediately” if any schedule changes are needed, she added.

Unite said “very angry” members had unanimously voted to reject an offer from the port’s bosses.

Staff due to down tools in the bitter pay and conditions dispute, which hinges on wages and work-life balance, include joiners, electricians, engineers and semi-skilled operatives.

The strike will go ahead unless any last-ditch talks later today or during the weekend resolve the workers’ many grievances.

Lerwick Harbour.
Lerwick harbour.

Despite the port’s assurances, a strike has the potential to wreak havoc on ferry operations, cruise liners and the oil and gas industry, as well as general shipping.

Only this week Lerwick harbour welcomed its largest cruise ship of the season as the 102,000 gross tonne Costa Fortuna arrived at the Shetland port.

With 100 ship arrivals slated to arrive until October, port bosses will be desperately hoping for a swift resolution to the dispute.

Unite is standing firm on its insistence the port authority re-examines its offer.

Costa Fortuna cruise ship in Lerwick harbour.
Costa Fortuna cruise ship in Lerwick harbour.

“The members are very, very angry,” Unite regional officer John Clark told The Press and Journal.

He added: “As it stands we have not come to an agreement and the strike is going ahead.

“The problem is about the over-time rates and work-life balance. What has been offered, they would be actually working more hours than less.”

Work-life balance key to negotiations

Unite would not confirm details of the offer made to its members by LPA, but it appears the port authority is looking to wrap any improvement in basic wages into a salary rather than an hourly rate.

The union maintains its members’ overtime at Lerwick makes up 40% of their wage and insists this is not conducive to a fair work-life balance.

“They (LPA) have come up with a decent basic wage but they want to put it into a salary which means people who do overtime don’t get overtime,” added Mr Clark.

“They have offered a very minimal amount to be available and it is totally unacceptable.

“I have written to the authority today rejecting the offer and am waiting for them to phone me to get back round the table.”

If the working week was capped at 40 hours, the terms “would have been acceptable”, Unite said.

But as it stands staff are due to down tools in an attempt to force port bosses to renegotiate.

Ships in Lerwick Harbour
Some 100 ships are due to dock at Lerwick between now and October.

“If they (LPA) come up with a time and date I will speak to them,” said Mr Clark, who noted Unite would be available all weekend to avert what would be a costly walkout.

Conversation