Container lorry strike hits port operations

KOCHI: The container trailer strike at the Kochi Port continued for the third day on Thursday, bringing cargo operations at the port to a standstill.

The container trailer operators called off their services on Tuesday in protest against imposition of parking fees on trailer lorries that remained in the port premises for more than six hours.

V. P. Chandrashekharan, secretary of Cochin Container Carrier Owners’ Welfare Association, said that the strike was continuing as there was no answer to the issue raised by them. The Cochin Port Trust authorities had ruled out any negotiations as the issues related to imposition of parking fees was discussed at length before it was introduced last Sunday.

The imposition of the parking fee means that trailer lorries have to pay the parking fees after six hours of its entry into the port premises at the rate of Rs. 15 for an hour for 40-foot containers and Rs. 10 for 20-foot containers per hour. The container trailer lorry owners feel that they should not be penalised for the delays in loading and unloading of cargo at the port premises. These operations were not entirely dependent on them, he said.

Source: The Hindu