The Hindu Business Line : Cargo diversion begins from Mangalore Port

The ongoing strike by the registered cargo handling workers at the New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) has now led to the diversion of cargo from New Mangalore to other ports, as the strike entered its seventh day on Friday.

Though a series of meetings was held among the different stakeholders in the shipping sector on Thursday and Friday, they did not yield the desired results.

Mr Praveen Kumar, President of Mangalore Steamer Agents’ Association, told Business Line that six vessels carrying around two lakh tonnes of coal cargo and 1.25 lakh tonnes of iron ore cargo were diverted from New Mangalore to other ports.

A container vessel, which is waiting at anchorage, is preparing for diversion.

Mr Shekhar Pujari, President of Association of New Mangalore Port Stevedores, due to continued strike for seven days, many vessels were diverted from Mangalore, and some more are likely to be diverted.

This sends a wrong signal to import-export trade. He urged the union leaders to submit their proposals to the management to find a solution to the ongoing strike.

Mr K. Prakash Rao, a cashew entrepreneur from the region, said that containers carrying imported raw cashew are waiting at the anchorage. The development of moisture in the commodity may lead to the deterioration of the quality, he said, and urged the management and trade unions to come to a solution at the earliest.

It is learnt that a section of the workers is in favour of some changes in the manning scale. However, another section wants to implement the old manning scale.

Meet with unions

A meeting is scheduled between the management and the trade unions on Saturday. Both the parties have to submit their reports to the Assistant Labour Commissioner (ALC) by Saturday evening.

The ALC will hold the final conciliation meeting on August 10.

On Thursday, the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry held separate meetings with the port management and the unions which went on till 10 p.m..

Both of them were informed about the hardships being faced by the trade and industry because of the strike.

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