The port of Liverpool used to be synonymous with industrial strife. Today, however, peace has broken out along the waterfront and the port is booming, partly attributable to the buoyant Irish economy.

The beneficiary is Mersey Docks and Harbour Company which yesterday announced a 37.5 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to £47.6 million sterling last year.

Only a year ago, the group ended its two-year dispute with a group of 327 sacked dockers - one of the longest industrial conflicts in the UK. The 1997 figures included an £10 million sterling exceptional charge for the settlement of the strike, which slightly flatters yesterday's figures.

But the group has made an extra effort to end the divisions between management and workers - encouraging workers to take a shareholding in the company. About 70 per cent of its 1,078 employees are potential investors after they signed up for a savings scheme allowing them to buy shares.