Mooring operations resume at Haldia port

Normalcy at Haldia port has been restored with mooring workers agreeing to resume work immediately.

Some 60-odd mooring crew had struck work on Monday after Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) officials issued notices to some absentee workers.

A day’s stoppage of work saw half a dozen ships being stuck at the Haldia docks, located 130 km from the city. This apart, some vessels were stranded at the Sandheads, a mid-sea anchorage 25 nautical miles off the port.

Most of the vessels are said to carry dry bulk cargo that include coal imported from Australia and manganese ore from South Africa. There were some container vessels carrying coastal cargo too.

According to a KoPT spokesperson, a meeting to resolve the stand-off was held today between senior officials of KoPT and workers’ unions. All the seven workers’ unions that operate at Haldia docks have agreed to resume work immediately, he said.

“However, certain issues raised by the unions will be examined appropriately by the port authorities,” he added.

On Sunday (January 13) some 20-odd crew were supposed to be present for a night shift at Haldia docks. But, only eight were actually present; while the others, despite signing the attendance register, were absent. Notices were issued to absentee workers and the shift supervisor which sparked the strike.

For the first nine months of this fiscal (April to December), the Haldia port reported over 12 per cent increase in traffic volumes to the tune of 33 million tonnes against the 29.2 million tonnes in the year-ago period.

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