Shipping industry hit hard by dock strike
With the dockers’ pay dispute into its second month, cargo throughput is down, and the costs of shipping lines and freight handlers are up
While the dockers strike is costing Hongkong International Terminals a reported HK$5 million a day, the actual cost of the dispute is costing the maritime and logistics industry much more as ships and cargo are diverted to other ports.
Alan Lee Yiu-kwong, chairman of the Hong Kong Container Terminal Operators Association, said it was too early to estimate how much the month-long dispute was costing and how much cargo Hong Kong had lost. The association represents the terminal companies including HIT, Modern Terminals and Cosco-HIT that operate port facilities at Kwai Tsing.
But estimates from the Port Development Council show container volumes through the nine Kwai Tsing container ports fell 5.9 per cent in March to 1.42 million teu (20-foot equivalent units) compared with a year earlier. Lee expected this to fall further this month as the dockers' strike took hold. The April cargo throughput figures will be released by the middle of next month.
Lee said: "We are urging all interested parties to sit down and resolve the issue to minimise the impact on the industry, make Hong Kong more competitive and not hit the 200,000 people who depend on the port for their livelihood."
We are urging all interested parties to sit down and resolve the issue to minimise the impact on the industry, make Hong Kong more competitive and not hit the 200,000 people who depend on the port for their livelihood
