Lashers in Europe’s largest port Rotterdam went on a 48-hour strike on Wednesday afternoon to demand higher wages.
Since Wednesday afternoon, workers of two lashing companies have stopped working from Wednesday afternoon, 8 October at 15:15, until Friday, 10 October at 15:15.
“Without lashers, the entire port would be at a standstill,” predicted an FNV (Netherlands Trade Union Confederation) spokesperson. “Those ships can’t go to sea if they are not lashed down and when ships come in, they can’t be unloaded.”
The Danish container line Maersk issued an advisory to its customers on Wednesday, Oct. 8 warning that vessel operations are being significantly impacted due to the suspension of services.
According to Maersk’s customer advisory, the labour dispute centers on “working conditions and compensation for lashing personnel on Terminals in Rotterdam.”
The strike specifically involves lashing operations, which are critical to the safe securing and release of containers on board vessels.
“As such, while terminal infrastructure (including tugs and pilots) remains operational, vessel operations are currently being significantly impacted due to the suspension of services by these independent lashing companies,” the container giant Maersk wrote in its website.
Maersk advised customers that it had aligned contingency plans with its operational partners to mitigate disruptions. It also said that vessels alongside from 8-10 October are experiencing delays or interruptions in load and discharge operations. “While our priority remains minimizing the disruption to your supply chain and maintaining the operational reliability, events like these are beyond our reasonable control and may impact operations,” the company noted.
The action in Rotterdam also comes as the Belgian pilots are continuing the strike over federal pension reforms.
As of 5 October, a pilot strike is taking place with disruption in Europe’s second largest port, the port of Antwerp-Bruges.
Due to dissatisfaction with the federal pension reforms, the Professional Association of Pilots (/Loodsenfront) is taking action as of Sunday, 5 October.
Reports from the port of Antwerp-Bruges are saying that a significant number of vessels have been delayed on both inbound and outbound traffic.
Thursday morning, the report from the port said there were in Antwerp 65 vessels without a known schedule and 27 vessels experiencing delays. In Zeebrugge, 7 vessels were experiencing delays.
For further updates from the port of Antwerp-Bruges pls see here.
