A new day has dawned at Hamilton Container Docks thanks to a complete turnaround in staff morale.

That is the message from Warren Jones who took over the reins at Stevedoring Services at the beginning of the year.

The CEO of Polaris Holding Company told The Royal Gazette that port workers had performed admirably in the face of growing challenges in the shipping industry and he praised the 44-strong workforce for their ethic and commitment to their job. Between 2012 and 2013, Hamilton Docks was plagued by worker unrest that often resulted in industrial action.

This in turn caused delays and disruption to the Island’s shipping schedule, prompting complaints from the shipping lines.

But Mr Jones believes workers are now more “focused and flexible”.

He said: “The biggest problem when I came on board was reputation. The dockworkers had a poor reputation of striking at the drop of a hat to the point, where the chairmen of the three shipping lines voiced their concerns on paper to us. My focus has been to change that reputation.

“We have spent the last ten months building a relationship with the union and improving service to our customers. Now those three chairmen have written on our behalf in support of the work we have done since the beginning of the year.

“We have tried to open up the docks and provided tours so people can see what is going on behind the fences, and we have worked to open the lines of communication with our staff.”

Eric Berkeley, the dock operations manager, has worked his way up the ladder from holdman over the past 18 years on Hamilton Container Docks.

Mr Berkeley, who is the fifth generation of his family to work on the docks, said: “Staff morale is high now. There has been a big change since the beginning of the year. A lot of hard work has gone into that and that has shown itself in the professionalism of work done by the guys. They enjoy coming to work and they work hard for each other again.

“Compared to what it was like before, it’s like night and day.”