Workers of lighter vessels continue strike

Imports through Chittagong Port are being hampered as workers of lighter vessels continued their strike yesterday to press home the demand for higher wages.

Because of the sudden strike enforced by a section of Bangladesh Lighterage Sramik Union on Saturday, unloading of goods and commodities came to a halt at 16 ghats of the Karnaphuli river.

The lighter vessels are used to transfer goods from the mother vessels, which are anchored in the sea, to Chittagong Port or other places across the country.

BSM Group of Chittagong imported about 1.15 lakh tonnes of wheat from Argentina and Canada through two mother vessels -- Anarita and Sarita Naree. Anarita arrived at the outer anchorage of the port on February 2 while Sarita Naree on February 6. Since last week, about 24,000 tonnes of wheat were loaded into 19 lighter vessels from the two mother vessels.    

On Saturday, the wheat carrying lighter vessels anchored at the Bangla Bazar Ghat of the Karnaphuli river, but could not start unloading the goods due to the strike.

BSM Group Chairman Abul Bashar Chowdhury said not a single tonne of wheat could be unloaded from the lighter vessels till yesterday.

This will disrupt unloading from the mother vessels at the outer anchorage as well, he said. For each day of overstaying, a mother vessel pays $12,000 in demurrage, he said.

The delay would also affect the quality of the food products in the vessels and disrupt the supply chain, he added.

Mahbub Rashid, executive director of Water Transport Cell, a private organisation that coordinates the schedules of lighter vessels, said 60 lighter vessels with about 70,000 tonnes of goods and commodities are stranded at the 16 ghats.

The goods include iron scrap, coal, limestone, sugar, triple superphosphate and wheat, he added. At a press conference on January 6, the association gave an ultimatum to the vessel owners that they would go on work abstention on February 13 if their demand was not met by then. But the workers went on strike ahead of their deadline.

The government on October 5 last year published a notification increasing the wages of lighterage workers to a minimum of Tk 9,650 from present Tk 6,900.

The pay hike was supposed to have been implemented within a month, said Shahadat Hossain, general secretary of the faction of Bangladesh Lighterage Sramik Union.

While some of the owners have increased the wages, most have failed to do so, he added. The country-wide strike would continue until their demand is met, he said.