CARGO TRANSPORT NEWS * India - Port of Chennai Suspends Exports

Backlog of import containers hampers operations

Chennai,India -The Journal of Commerce Online -Dec 3, 2010: -- The terminal authority at India's Port of Chennai temporarily suspended export cargo movements as congestion at its two marine terminals escalated... The decision came at a recent meeting with stakeholders to review operational problems at the country's second-largest container gateway after the backlog of import boxes reached levels that hampered operations at the two terminals... According to the latest update from port sources, the terminal yard inventory held nearly 18,000 20-foot equivalent units, mostly imports, as of Friday morning... Officials said the situation was aggravated by a mid-November truckers' strike that lasted three days, coupled with rising traffic volume and a spate of festival holidays in recent weeks... (Photo from wikipedia/wikimedia: Chennai Port panorama)

* India - Port Cochin Truckers End Strike - Drivers win 31 percent wage increase, other benefits

Port Cochin,India -The Journal of Commerce Online -Dec 6, 2010: ...  Container truck drivers late Saturday called off a five-day strike at the Port of Cochin, restoring the movement of ocean freight traffic to and from India Gateway Terminal... Officials said truck owners agreed to a new two-year wage contract covering a 31 percent increase in wages and an 18 percent increase in other entitlements... Reports said striking drivers returned to work Saturday night and the port terminal authority was making all efforts to accelerate the clearance of some 4,000 inbound containers stranded at the terminal... The labor action, which crippled cargo movements for almost a week, came at a time when the Cochin Port authority was gearing up to launch its long-awaited International Container Transshipment Terminal, the country’s first transshipment facility, with annual capacity of 1 million 20-foot equivalent units in the first phase... Cochin handled 290,000 TEUs in fiscal 2009-10 ending March 31. According to the latest provisional data from port sources, volume for the April-November period grew 13.5 percent year-over-year to 222,000 TEUs...  (Photo from farm4.static.flickr: Indian trucks)