Special agreements and a new management structure to increase efficiency on DFDS Seaways' ships

Company announcement no.23/2008
Copenhagen, 18 September 2008






Special agreements and a new management structure to increase efficiency on
DFDS Seaways' ships 

Union agreements regarding special agreements for flexible crewing from 1
October 2008, along with a simplified management structure, will reduce costs
and increase onboard efficiency. Total annual gains are around DKK 40 million. 

On 27 May DFDS announced the first phase of a plan for necessary improvements
to the finances of the group's passenger shipping division, DFDS Seaways. The
plan entails the closure of the Bergen-Newcastle route and reductions at the
agencies and head office with 340 employees. This will ensure an annual
improvement of around DKK 60 million from 2009. 

The second phase of the plan consists of changed crewing principles and a
simplified management structure. 

Changed crewing principles in onboard service functions
Service crews on the ships on the Oslo route will hereafter consist of three
categories: 
1.	Permanent employees on a specific ship,
2.	Permanent employees that move between ships, 
3.	Temporary employees.

“This provides us with the flexibility that is needed in order to ensure that
the number of employees on board is adapted to the actual number of passengers.
We can thereby guarantee optimal service when there are many passengers and
avoid having too many crew members when there are fewer passengers. This is a
vital step in the turnaround of DFDS Seaways; it would not have been possible
without the special agreements that have been entered with the Danish Maritime
Catering Union and 3F Privat Service Hotel og Restauration, part of the 3F
union, lasting until April 2010. We have held three months of negotiations with
these unions, regarding increased flexibility, simplification and savings.
That we, in the middle of an agreement period, have reached these new
agreements is a testament to the seriousness of the situation,” says DFDS' HR
Executive Vice President, Henrik Holck. 

Modified management structure in the service functions 
At the same time a new, simplified management structure is being introduced in
the onboard service functions. This means that there is a total reduction of
around 60 managers on all four ships on the Oslo-Copenhagen and
IJmuiden/Amsterdam - Newcastle routes. Similarly, the managers will be given
notice and some will be offered reemployment in new functions. “With this step,
we finalised the ships' organisation and the adjustment to a more commercial,
route-focused management structure for the benefit of our guests and our
bottom line,” says Carsten Jensen, Executive Vice President of DFDS Seaways. 

Redundancies
In phase 2 the total reduction in employees and managers is 150 people, but due
to natural turn-over, careful planning and restricting new employment we have
been able to reduce the number of redundancies to around 30 permanent employees
and 30 managers. Employees who do not wish to transfer to the new agreements or
terms will have the same rights as if they had been given notice. 

The ship's operating crew (deck and engine room) are not affected by these
changes. 

Annual gains of DKK 40 million
The annual total gains from this second phase are expected to amount to DKK 40
million from 2009 onwards.  “We have thereby taken yet another important step
forward towards the turnaround of DFDS Seaways. We are still facing a number of
significant challenges, but we now have a considerably better basis for
developing needed efficiencies and at the same time providing the best service
to our customers and a sound financial result for Seaways,” says CEO Niels
Smedegaard. 

Further information:Niels Smedegaard, +45 33 42 34 00,
Carsten Jensen, +45 33 42 31 50, Henrik Holck, +45 33 42 32 34










DFDS - a leading sea-based transport network in northern Europe. DFDS has
around 4,400 employees and a fleet of about 60 ships. DFDS was founded in 1866
and is listed on OMX The Nordic Exchange Copenhagen.