Rate rises loom as port congestion hits four-year high
Congestion in container ports has crept up to a four-year high, with nearly 3.7m teu, ...
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The port of Rotterdam is braced for further disruption from the ongoing stand-off between labour unions and one of its terminal operators.
Hutchison Ports’ Delta II Terminal was hit by a two-day, unplanned walkout by workers on Sunday, forcing Maersk to omit a call and Kuehne + Nagel to warncustomers delays had hit 48 hours as the strike was followed by work slowdowns.
A Hutchison spokesperson told The Loadstar: “At the moment we have been confronted with slowdown actions. Action can vary from slowdowns to full strikes and will not be announced upfront.
“It is therefore very difficult to estimate to what extent our operations will be disrupted.”
Workers represented by the FNV Havens and CNV unions have been in dispute with the terminal operator since the second half of last year over port automation.
The unions are threatening further industrial action “until a suitable agreement is reached”, with K+N noting that “yard utilisation remains high, placing significant pressure on labour resources and resulting in lower productivity”.
Stressing that the unrest “specifically” involved the Delta II terminal, a spokesperson for the port said it remained a “fluid situation”, telling The Loadstar talks were ongoing between management and unions, emphasising, “employers and employees are responsible for employment, collective agreements, etc. As such, we are not involved in the negotiations”.
“As a port authority we have a facilitating role when it comes to supporting the sector on issues that transcend the individual company,” the spokesperson added. “We are hopeful that the requested guarantee for severance pay will be issued in the foreseeable future and the work stoppages will be over.”
However, sources said the issues at the Delta II terminal simply compounded long-running problems at the Dutch gateway. One told The Loadstar the congestion from the work stoppages was “simply an aggravation of an already very congested situation in Rotterdam,” adding that terminals were full and “refusing to take in containers unless equivalent volumes are being moved out”.
And shippers using inland navigation have been particularly aggrieved in recent years, with delays of 24hrs now the working norm with some barge operators.
This, The Loadstar has been told, has been driven by inefficiencies between the barge operators and a tendency for multiple half-empty barges competing for access to unload their goods.
Inland operator Contargo this week reported delays of 76 hours at Rotterdam and 70 hours at Antwerp, with K+N noting 72-hour delays for feeder vessels.
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