Everyone a loser after Hong Kong dock strike ends
As dockers go back, it is time to add up the cost of the action, with workers accepting a lower offer and operator nursing damage to its image
No one emerged as a winner from the 40-day dockers strike, with the workers failing to get the raise they demanded and the port operator involved suffering a tarnished image, analysts said.
That was believed to represent just 1 per cent of vessels that were scheduled to arrive, chairman of freight forwarding and logistics Dr Paul Tsui Hon-yan said, although the company declined to give an actual figure on the number of vessels it handled during the period.
Separately, an HIT spokeswoman said the average waiting time for vessels was 20 to 25 hours - compared with about three hours before the strike.
"We expect a throughput drop in April for the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals," she said. "As the labour dispute draws to an end and workers return to their posts, HIT will be able to focus on restoring the port to its full operational capabilities."
She said the operator had resumed 80 to 90 per cent of its container handling capacity.
She declined to say how much the strike had cost the five HIT-run terminals in financial terms, but when the action started on March 28, HIT said it was costing the company HK$5 million a day, although this figure fell to HK$2.4 million a day about a week later.
