By PAULA OLIVER
Carter Holt Harvey has reversed its policy and offered a long-term, national log-loading contract to stevedore companies.
The timber giant previously offered tenders on a ship-by-ship basis, and refused to negotiate long-term deals.
The reversal follows a bitter four month dispute between Mainland Stevedoring - contracted to do Carter
Holt's log loading - and the Waterfront Workers' Union.
The union yesterday welcomed the news that other stevedores had been invited to tender - but it remained suspicious that the obvious winner of the tender would be Mainland.
National secretary Trevor Hansen said he would be happy with a nationwide agreement as long as it was with a company employing WWU members.
Carter Holt's move addresses one of the main sticking points uncovered during mediation of the ports dispute - other stevedore companies' claims that they were not offered the chance to tender for Carter Holt jobs.
Carter Holt's chief operating officer, Jay Goodenbour, said the company was trying to use its size better to secure a good deal.
"Basically we didn't think we had used our scale as well as we could," Mr Goodenbour said.
"We couldn't do this previously because we might have been accused of stacking the deck in favour of Mainland. In this case, everyone seems to be happy that we've done it."
In the tender documents, Carter Holt says stowage factors will be critical to who wins the tender - an area where Mainland's revolutionary software system appears to have an edge over competitors.
Mr Goodenbour said Carter Holt would look for a one- or two-year contract. But it was unlikely that only one stevedore firm would secure all of Carter Holt's log-loading work, because the company didn't want to put all of its eggs into one basket.
"We might end up with a couple of stevedoring firms, but it won't be the way it was," Mr Goodenbour said.
"The other thing about this is that if someone knows that they've got a long-term contract for work, then they can go and hire the people - they don't have to worry that they're hiring them and then not having the opportunity to keep them working."
Mainland chief executive Greg Dickson said his company would tender for the contract. It would also continue with legal action seeking damages from the WWU for time and money it lost loading ships during the height of the dispute.
He said rumours that Mainland was no longer guaranteeing a certain amount of work to its stevedores were incorrect.
The rumours, doing the rounds in the South Island, surfaced because Carter Holt has cut harvesting levels in the region to counter weak markets.
