THE FACTOR OF TEN' THAT HAUNTS THE DOCKS

They are talking about money on London docks as the annual pay review for the port's 10,000 workers comes round once more.

The difference is that this year the two sides come together in the full knowledge that any agreed sum will be frozen by decree of Heath and his Cabinet. Then it will be up to the dockers, and particularly the shop stewards leadership, to make their next If Liverpool is anything to go by, the London men will have to be on their guard for a retreat. The Merseyside shop stewards were faced with the freezing of their five-hour cut in the working week and £1.50 increase in the basic wage already. agreed by management in exchange for the dockers' pledge to operate the mammoth Seaforth container dock.

There was talk at a mass meeting of calling on the Transport and General Workers' Union leadership to fight the claim. But no action on Merseyside was recommended. With a sigh of relief most of the Tory Press recognized the outcome as a reprieve for the government's pay plan.

But overshadowing the pay controversy still is the jobs issue. The container revolution goes grinding on, right over he dockers.

Remember Chobham Farm, the scene of the first major clash between the rank-and-file dockers and the National Industrial Relations Court? It was nearly picketed out of existence, but is now doing very nicely handling up to 110 freight vehicles every day with a tiny staff of 52 men. Rebistered dockers are accepted, but this hardly alters brutal fact that at this rate of cargo-handling, jobs thousands of them are up for auction.

The latest figures reveal the ull depth of the exodus trom the registered ports. To date suited a rin some 6,000 men severance has releaving the industry. The migration continues at the rate of 100 a week and the employers are rubbing their hands at the delightful prospect of meeting their target of a 10,000 cut in the industry's labour force by February. So the JonesAldington* report, which "settled' the dock strike, is revealed for what it is—the spearhead of the employers' plans on the docks.

The only thing that has happened is that more and more workers have left Worse is to come with the employers now openly talking about the 'factor of ten'. This neat little phrase is based on the following . reasoning- -if a good conventional berth can landle 100,000 tons a year, then a similar-sized container berth can shift 1 million tons.

If it takes 150 men manhandle the cargo of a conventional ship, then it will (and does) take 15 men to turn-round' a container vessel.

This kind of logic is of great interest to employers and, needless to say, to dockers.

But not all is well on the employers side. Though Overseas Containers Ltd has announced its first profit since it began deep sea operations three years ago, the consortia still have to realize the awaited PORT OF AVERELE POTEN O or of ten on Liverpool docks. Top: The containers are loaded The facte sew Seaforth terminal. Conventional methods (above) are at the isappearing. Employers say they need one tenth of the men rapidly d to shift c ontainerized cargo.

The big British group OCL as well as ACT and ACL have spent some £350m on their container systems but up until now have suffered losses.

The first rush into containers now appears to be over, with the establishment of the Far East container trade shared now by three consortia (British, Germ man and japanese called Trio Lines Trio Lite on the Atlantic trade where the mad rush into containers caused overcapacity and a vicious trade war. Peace was made when the big European and US lines entered into a cartel agreement to carve up the tonnage and eliminate competition But overcapacity still problem YNX result that US capacity on the i: North Atlantic seaboard is 240 per cent above demand and an incredible 570 per cent on the Pacific side. The Pacific Ocean container trades are also running into trouble. An overcapacity ratio of three to one has been forecast and something drastic will have to be done soon if big losses or a rate war is to be averted.

Apart from the containerization of the land route to the east along the TransSiberian railway and the prospect of containerizing the South African and South American trade in four years' time, investment is stagnant.

These developments mean two things apart from bad news for shipbuilding.

First, there is an increasing pressure to break the militancy of dockers and get the full productivity the system offers. Jones-Aldington was very much a part of this drive and the lines have launched a determined campaign to speed things up at the container berths in the traditional ports where the militants work.

Employers estimate that the cost of moving a container through the port could be as low as £7 or £8. But the real figure turns out to be nearer £25 and they want to bring it down fast.

Another innovation which will hit registered dockers hard is the very noticeable trend towards more versatile ships in the roll-on, roll-off and lifton, litt-oti category which have their own handling gear and ramps. These vessels do not need to dock at a fullyequipped port - little more than large flat concrete quays are needed.

The other drive, of course, • towards the unregistered ports. These are at present Ports who ted to report by the s booming.

The City Press, organ of he City of London and the stock Exchange, was recently reated to a two-page story on he wonders of Felixstowe-the country's leading unregistered port.

Twenty years ago Felixstowe worked to the hiss of an ancient steam crane and ten men handled the infrequent cargoes of coal and flour.

Now 1,200 are employed on the dock estate and land values_have rocketed from £5 to t1,500 per acre.

In October all records for cargo-handling were broken when 250,000 tons passed through the port, the bulk of it in 10,259 containers.

This is almost an annual rate of 3 million tons. Compare this with the 19 million tons of container traffic passing through all British ports in 1971 and the challenge of Felixstowe to the registered dock is strikingly revealed. Other unregistered ports like Dover and Shoreham are also undergoing rapid expansion.

Given the necessity to use the enormous capital equipment to the full, the shipping lines, particularly on the continental run, have a great incentive to use places like Felixstowe and the lessmilitant unregistered dockers who work there.

Meanwhile in the registered ports the campaign to drive down job levels will grow fiercer. The aim is for a 20,000 labour force within five to ten years. Jones-Aldington has already opened the breach. If they want to reap the benefits of technology, dockers face the fight of their lives. * The committee set up to end this year's dock strike headed by Transport and General Workers' Union general secretary Jack Jones and the Port of London Authority's chairman, Lord Aldington.

orkers Press, Tuesday December 12, day December 1972