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Modern Terminals Limited (MTL), controlled by Wharf Holdings, has made 375 staff - 22 per cent of its workforce - redundant.

 Sources said a higher proportion of management staff had been laid off compared with non-management staff.

 MTL managing director Erik Christensen said: 'As a company with large investments in fixed assets, we must increase our ability to respond effectively.

 'We must be flexible in adapting to changing circumstances to continue to meet the challenges of an increasingly competitive environment.'   This is the first time MTL has had to lay off staff in its 25-year history.

 The organisational review, which started at the end of July, ends on Friday.

 Mr Christensen said staff were offered redundancy packages higher than the level required by employment ordinance, including a minimum of three months basic salary for all employees irrespective of length of service.

 MTL delayed the decision for some time, even though other terminal operators had taken similar measures.

  Last November, Hutchison Whampoa's Hong Kong International Terminals sacked 60 workers and called for a further 95 voluntary redundancies to cut operating costs.

 HIT said regional competition and shipping lines forming consortiums were contributing factors for its decision.

 It said the company was continually looking at improving products, efficiency and cost effectiveness.

 Mr Christensen said MTL invested $655 million in a recently completed operational mode change and efficiency programme at its Kwai Chung terminals.

 MTL spokesman Mike Trueman said technology played a growing role in the efficiency of the terminal and had created an unused capacity of one million teus (20-ft equivalent units).

 Freight rates had also fallen to low levels.

 This move also forced the terminal to take staff-cutting measures, Mr Trueman said, adding that MTL was a victim of its own success.

 The terminal operator's results were affected by Hyundai's move from its berths last year to HIT.

 MTL expects more business in February when ships from the newly formed P&O Nedlloyd line begin berthing at its terminals, adding a throughput of between 400,000 and 450,000 teus a year.



Managers not spared as Wharf unit MTL sacks 375 in 'competitive move'