File spoon-archives/aut-op-sy.archive/aut-op-sy_1997/97-01-19.114, message 7


From: "Curtis Price" <cansv-AT-igc.apc.org>
Date:          Wed, 1 Jan 1997 08:15:20 +0000
Subject:       (Fwd) [71] STRIKE SEEN WIDENING AT SRI LANKAN PORT


------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Tue, 31 Dec 1996 01:09:03 -0500
From:          NewsHound-AT-sjmercury.com (NewsHound)

Subject:       [71] STRIKE SEEN WIDENING AT SRI LANKAN PORT

Selected by your NewsHound profile entitled "STRIKES". The selectivity score was
 71 out of 100.

Strike Seen Widening at Sri Lankan Port
By N. Vasuki Rao, The Journal of Commerce

Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News

NEW DELHI--Dec. 31--The Sri Lankan government is bracing for more disruption to 
commerce and its own agenda after trade unions crippled the Port of Colombo at 
the weekend in a protest against privatization.

Unions announced a meeting Monday to consider further strike action and other 
measures to block what they see as a move to hand over facilities at the Queen 
Elizabeth Quay to a consortium led by Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co.
 of Britain. The government denies this is its intention.

Strike leaders said about 95 percent of the 16,000 staff at the port took part 
in the strike Friday. It was called after a breakdown in talks with Ports and 
Shipping Minister M.H.M. Ashraff. Losses mounting

The strike is estimated to have caused a loss of 20 million rupees ($385,000) to
 the port. If it does continue, losses will mount and the image of Colombo as 
South Asia's main transshipment hub will be badly tarnished.

In statements to local newspapers, union leaders accused Ashraff and his 
department of ``evading issues and hiding facts regarding the privatization.''

``The government has betrayed us, and we had to act in a timely manner to 
prevent the sellout to the P&O,'' said a labor spokesman.

Ashraff challenged the union leaders to prove the existence of any agreement 
between P&O and his ministry. ``If they do so, I'll resign as minister. When I 
prove there is no such agreement, I suggest those unions which claimed to the 
contrary be dissolved,'' Ashraff told a local newspaper. ``Irresponsible' strike

Terming the strike irresponsible, Ashraff said ``certain interested parties'' 
were conspiring to disrupt the development of Colombo port so it is not able to 
compete with leading ports in the region.

Ashraff said talks with P&O pertain to construction of additional harbor 
facilities outside Queen Elizabeth Quay to meet future requirements.

The government called for proposals in April 1995 to modernize the quay and 
outer harbor area on the build-operate- transfer basis. These facilities last 
year handled the equivalent of 1 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), of 
which 70 percent was transshipment.

In February 1996, the government announced it would negotiate the project 
exclusively with a consortium called South Asia Gateway Terminals. It includes 
P&O, P&O Australia, local conglomerate John Keels Holdings and the Sri Lanka 
Ports Authority.

Investment for the first phase of the project is estimated at $200 million. The 
whole undertaking -- forecast to cost up to $1 billion and take 10 years -- will
 see development of the southern part of the port with at least six more 
deep-draft berths with capacity of 2 million TEUs a year.

Unions fear the proposed deal with P&O will mean retrenchment and losses to the 
Sri Lanka Ports Authority.

Ashraff told union leaders last week he would go ahead with the deal only if it 
were profitable. Talks were still on with P&O and a deal was six months away, he
 said.

The minister argues that the project is required urgently to expand capacity for
 rising container volumes and retain Colombo's position as a hub. The port, with
 capacity of 1.6 million TEUs, handled 1.3 million in 1996.

Port authorities said previously they would get tough with labor in the face of 
mounting complaints about delays and to improve services and attract bigger and 
more modern vessels.

Port authority spokesman Daya Wijesekera told a news agency the port would 
impose tough penalties and update a 30-year-old incentive program to raise 
productivity. It would also increase the use of private labor to handle ``dirty 
cargo such as cement and fertilizer.''

A recent study of productivity found that attendance of workers in the port's 
operations division was unsatisfactory, dipping to as low as 50 percent on 
Mondays and Tuesdays, the spokesman said.

The port authority also plans to standardize the tariff structure for 
conventional cargo under which tariffs paid by shipping lines will depend on 
daily output.

``We're looking at productivity-based tariffs,'' a senior official said. ``If a 
ship does more cargo, she pays less.

Until now, tariffs were imposed on cargo movement regardless of output levels.

-----

ON THE INTERNET:

Visit The Journal of Commerce on the World Wide Web. Point your browser to 
http://www.joc.com/

-----

(c) 1996, The Journal of Commerce. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business
 News.

END!A8?JC-SRI-LANKA

AP-NY-12-30-96 2009EST


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