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Strike Action to Take Place at Whiddy Island Oil Terminal

2nd December 2022
Strike-action:  Whiddy Island oil terminal has 31 permanent employees at the south-west Cork facility where the company is implementing five redundancies as part of the restructuring process. Above AFLOAT's scene of the tanker, Seasprat at the terminal's dedicated single point mooring in Bantry Bay.
Strike-action: Whiddy Island oil terminal has 31 permanent employees at the south-west Cork facility where the company is implementing five redundancies as part of the restructuring process. Above AFLOAT's scene of the tanker, Seasprat at the terminal's dedicated single point mooring in Bantry Bay. Credit: Jehan Ashmore

Workers who are members of Ireland's largest trade union, SIPTU have notified Zenith Energy Bantry Bay Terminals located on Cork's south-west coast, that they will take strike action next month.

The strike according to the Irish Examiner, is set to take place on 13 December at Whiddy Island where the storage facility provides for 1.4m cubic metres of crude oil,diesel,kerosene and petrol.

For more than 50 years the terminal has played a critical role in European energy storage and which has the ability to receive vessels up to the size of Vary Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) at their dedicated single-point mooring as Afloat's photograph depicts above.

The dispute concerns compulsory redundancies at the terminal in which the US based (Houston, Texas) energy company as Afloat reported in 2015 acquired the Whiddy terminal from Phillips66. 

Siptu's organiser Willie Noone said “This action results from the decision of the company to dismiss workers with long service on Wednesday, November 30, while planning to employ contractors on an ongoing basis to do their work”

Zenith which employs 31 in permanent positions at the terminal is undertaking a restructuring process which involves implementing five redundancies. 

In additon to the Irish terminal, Zenith has a terminal in the Netherlands in Amstedam and throughout the USA.

Published in Coastal Notes
Jehan Ashmore

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Jehan Ashmore

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Jehan Ashmore is a marine correspondent, researcher and photographer, specialising in Irish ports, shipping and the ferry sector serving the UK and directly to mainland Europe. Jehan also occasionally writes a column, 'Maritime' Dalkey for the (Dalkey Community Council Newsletter) in addition to contributing to UK marine periodicals. 

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