More layoffs at Copenhagen Malmö Port amid COVID-19 impact

Copenhagen Malmö Port (CMP), one of the largest cruise destinations in northern Europe and a hub for ferries and RoRo traffic, has announced a new round of layoffs which will include around 55 dockworkers and office workers.

The decision is being made amid a major impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the port operator’s business, especially for the transportation of new cars and cruise transport.

CMP already gave notice of termination in April to 40 employees in Malmö, which as Scandinavia’s largest port terminal for new cars, has been hit particularly hard by the global downturn in vehicle production.

The port operator said that forecasts continue to indicate that the 2020 cruise season will be completely cancelled, while several other business areas are experiencing up to a halving in volumes managed.

“Therefore, despite a comprehensive savings plan and the utilisation of government support packages, CMP is in a situation where it is forced to announce further layoffs,” the company said. 

CMP added that the initiatives put in place to curb the impact of the pandemic were not sufficient to cover the short-term financial losses which the port operator continues to foresee over a longer-term. 

“The decline in the number of port calls and volumes managed, and thus declines in revenue, are simply too substantial to be dealt with by the measures we have previously set into motion. Unfortunately, with the uncertainty surrounding the length and depth of the crisis, and the impacts on our underlying markets such as cruise tourism, the supply of energy, consumer goods and raw materials, we are compelled to act now and announce terribly bad news such as this.,” CEO of CMP, Barbara Scheel Agersnap, said.

“We quite simply do not have any other alternatives remaining available to us in the acute situation we find ourselves in. We will make every effort and do everything within our power so that CMP will return to that good condition it was in, including as a workplace.”