Labour problems plague Kochi port

Regular strikes by trailer lorry workers at the Kochi port have badly hit the movement of containers for over two weeks in the last three months.

Manhandling of trailer lorry workers, allegedly by a sub-inspector caused the latest strike, which paralysed the port for four days last week and led to piling up of containers at the Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal (RGCT).

Frequent labour problems are badly affecting the port. According to officials of India Gateway Terminals, the Indian arm of Dubai Port World, the operator of RGCT, over 1,500 containers have piled up.

Exporters of perishable commodities like seafood are in a dilemma, as its impacting their business. Sandu Joseph, secretary, Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI), told Business Standard that reefer containers were lying idle.

Further, piling up of containers at the wharfs had almost stalled the port for 10 -12 days in August. Over 6,500 containers were kept at RGCT where the maximum handling capacity is 5,000 containers. The turnaround time of vessels also shot up to 5-6 days from an average of 48 hours.

Leading shipping agents informed that the per shift handling of containers had dropped to 80–90 containers from 250 during the last couple of months because of the backlog. Such flash strikes are forcing exporters to divert their cargo to Tuticorin and other ports.

DP World had aimed to handle 300,000 containers in the current fiscal as against 253,000 containers in 2007-08. But this would not be possible if man-days were lost frequently, said company sources.