JOC Staff | Dec 12, 2012 9:12AM EST
Container trailer operators serving the APM Terminals facility in India’s Port of Nhava Sheva (Jawaharlal Nehru) launched an indefinite strike Wednesday morning, disrupting the movement of ocean traffic through the country’s largest box gateway.
The Nhava Sheva Container Trailer Operators’ Association, which represents the local trucking community, is protesting delays and other infrastructure issues at the private terminal.
A shipping line agent at Nhava Sheva said all import deliveries and export arrivals had come to a complete halt because of the strike action. “With import boxes piling up, the terminal is bracing for severe congestion problems if trucking operations are not restored immediately,” he said.
The trailer group in a notice said despite several rounds of talks, the terminal authority had not taken any concrete measurers to speed truck flow. “We were left with no other option but to suspend container movements,” representatives said.
APM Mumbai is one of three container-handling facilities in Nhava Sheva Port, which accounts for more than half of India’s total containerized traffic. The private terminal moved 1.89 million 20-foot-equivalent units in fiscal 2011-12, which ended March 31, up from 1.85 million TEUs a year earlier.
