Container movement resumes at Cochin Port

Kochi, Aug 8: The movement of containers to and from Cochin Port resumed today with trailer lorry drivers calling off their four-day-old strike this morning.

A Cochin Port Trust (CPT) spokesman said the lorry drivers, who had gone on a lightning strike from Tuesday night, called it off today following the intervention of union leaders.

''The union leaders had a meeting with CPT Chairman N Ramachandran yesterday, who assured them that the port management would streamline the functioning to ensure speedy movement of containers,'' he said.

The union leaders had also expressed their opposition to lightning strikes and said they were not consulted by the drivers before undertaking the action.

The leaders informed the CPT chairman that they would persuade the striking drivers to call off their stir and resolve their problems through discussions.

A meeting is expected to be called in the near future to address their problems, the spokesman said.

With the strike being called off, the container movement resumed at around 1100 hrs. At least 1,000 containers were stuck inside and outside the port and several export consignments were blocked at the port.

The lorry drivers had struck work on Tuesday night, complaining about the delay in entry into the Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal at Cochin Port.

The drivers said they had to wait for more than three hours to get into the terminal as the India Gateway Terminals Pvt Ltd (IGTPL), which operates the Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal, had imposed restrictions on entry to avoid congestion at the port during peak hours.

UNI