Ever since the private cargo handler at Haldia port, the Haldia Bulk Terminals (HBT) suspended operations at its mechanized berths 2 and 8 from September 25, the situation at Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) turned uneasy and uncomfortable. Now, 3.5 lakh tonnes of cargo have piled up at Haldia port, causing great anxiety to all concerned. A KoPT official said that they were receiving calls to release the cargo at the earliest. On the one hand, the KoPT, to put an end to this impasse, gave an ultimatum to HBT to resume operations by October 19; on the other side, the ABG-LDA monitored HBT moved the Calcutta High Court seeking its intervention to restore law and order at Haldia complex. Incurring loss, HBT wanted business at its berths and KoPT tried to solve the issue through arbitration by deciding to divert more vessels to the berths of HBT. The trouble started there. Now, the situation seems to have worsened, both KoPT and HBT taking firm stand against one another. HBT has declared that it could not reinstate the 275 retrenched workers. In fact, this untimely retrenchment added fuel to the fire. To the demand of HBT for more business, namely, about 9 million tonnes of cargo every year, it is understood from a reliable source that HBT does not have adequate equipment to handle that much of cargo. Labour unrest, we know, is neither new to the industry nor can it be interminable; in the interests of all the stakeholders, we can be confident that they will cross the bridge; the sooner, the better.
Thursday, 18 October 2012
Cargo piles up at Haldia as the deadlock continues
Ever since the private cargo handler at Haldia port, the Haldia Bulk Terminals (HBT) suspended operations at its mechanized berths 2 and 8 from September 25, the situation at Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) turned uneasy and uncomfortable. Now, 3.5 lakh tonnes of cargo have piled up at Haldia port, causing great anxiety to all concerned. A KoPT official said that they were receiving calls to release the cargo at the earliest. On the one hand, the KoPT, to put an end to this impasse, gave an ultimatum to HBT to resume operations by October 19; on the other side, the ABG-LDA monitored HBT moved the Calcutta High Court seeking its intervention to restore law and order at Haldia complex. Incurring loss, HBT wanted business at its berths and KoPT tried to solve the issue through arbitration by deciding to divert more vessels to the berths of HBT. The trouble started there. Now, the situation seems to have worsened, both KoPT and HBT taking firm stand against one another. HBT has declared that it could not reinstate the 275 retrenched workers. In fact, this untimely retrenchment added fuel to the fire. To the demand of HBT for more business, namely, about 9 million tonnes of cargo every year, it is understood from a reliable source that HBT does not have adequate equipment to handle that much of cargo. Labour unrest, we know, is neither new to the industry nor can it be interminable; in the interests of all the stakeholders, we can be confident that they will cross the bridge; the sooner, the better.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment