Battle axe buried in Rotterdam container sector

The conflict was triggered by the dockers’ unions’ fears that the shifts in the container sector, with the commissioning of the new terminals at the Second Maasvlakte, increasing automation and a market characterised by overcapacity, would translate into heavy pressure on wage and working conditions and employment. They demanded guarantees of job security. From the end of last year, they stepped up the pressure. Early this year, it briefly came to a strike.