Others are waiting
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IT IS NOT only PLA. OCL and ACT who are suffering because of the labour disputes at Tilbury. The National Freight Corporation has a £500,000 freightliner terminal there, which it doesn't propose to open until the OCIJACT service starts. Official reason given is that it simply would not be economical to commence operations without the Australian consortia. European Unit Routes, a subsidiary of the General Steam Navigation Company, which provides container services from Tilbury to Dunkirk and Rotterdam. originally geared the economies of their operations on the Freightliner service, and a spokesman said that its non-commencement has stifled EUR's growth to some extent. Another body anxious for the Freightliners to roll are the many forwarders whose containers pass through Tilbury.
Another "casualty" as a result of the nonstart of the OCL/ACT at Tilbury is Mercantile Engineering Co. Ltd. who, as reported in Commercial Motor on January 10, were to provide a container repairing and parking facility, plus other motel-like amenities for hauliers, adjacent to the port. Like certain other backing-up facility providers, it has been looking at suitable sites near Southampton, which could well become Britain's no. 1 container port if the unions will play ball.