Cargo Business Newswire

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Protesters at Port of Oakland stall working of Zim ship

By Richard Knee

A longshore work stoppage stemming from anti-Israeli government rallies outside a Port of Oakland cargo terminal reportedly idled the Zim Integrated Shipping Services containership Piraeus, which sat unloaded for at least two days starting Sunday evening.

Zim, Israel’s largest shipping line, is partly owned by the Israeli government, which is being widely criticized for its treatment of Palestinians in Gaza. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents West Coast dockworkers, said it had “taken no position on the issue associated with the demonstration” that took place outside the SSA Marine-run Oakland International Container Terminal used by Zim and 14 other carriers.

The protest group is planning further protests this week to try to disrupt Zim container ship processing—at the Port of Tacoma on August 21 and at the Port of Seattle on August 22—according to the Block the Boat website.

Port authority spokesman Robert Bernardo said on Monday that all other port operations, including truck and train services, were proceeding normally. The port is served by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroads. Independent drivers provide much of the trucking to and from the port.

Bernardo said Monday night that he believed container offloading and loading work on two other vessels berthed at OICT was taking place but he could not be sure. Conversely, on Tuesday when ILWU spokesman Roy San Filippo confirmed the Piraeus was not being worked, he said of the other two ships “I am not certain but I believe they are not being worked.”

No one at the OICT office or at SSA Marine headquarters in Seattle could be reached for comment on Tuesday.

ILWU and SSA Marine representatives had voiced hope late Monday afternoon that dockworkers would report for the shift that was to start at 8 p.m. They did, but container handling didn’t take place.

Bernardo said that while Oakland police were keeping the terminal gate free of obstruction as 40 persons demonstrated there Monday night, not enough dockworkers were on hand to service the Piraeus.

The ILWU said in a late-night statement that dockworkers feared for their safety because of the presence of 100 armed Oakland Police and Alameda County Sheriff’s officers, who outnumbered demonstrators. The workers said they would not come in unless the officers dispersed and were released from duty at 9 p.m. by SSA Marine and the Pacific Maritime Association, according to the ILWU.

The Piraeus docked Sunday afternoon after a day’s delay prompted by a demonstration on Saturday. Longshore workers were unavailable to service the Piraeus, though two other ships at the terminal had been processed before the Zim ship arrived, said Edward DeNike, president of SSA Marine’s SSA Containers unit, on Monday afternoon.

DeNike said the ILWU had given its assurance that the Piraeus would be worked Monday night, though he said it might not happen if there was another massive demonstration outside the terminal.

ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees gave a similar accounting: “We’re understanding that a request was put in for labor and the request is being fulfilled. … (The protest) seemed to be focused on one ship at one terminal in a big port.”

How the episode affected Zim and its customers could not be ascertained by Tuesday. A representative at the carrier’s Long Beach, Calif., office said a statement was forthcoming but Cargo Business News did not receive one in time for inclusion in this story.

Other carriers calling at the OICT facility are APL, China Shipping, CMA CGM, China Ocean Shipping Co., Hanjin Shipping Co., Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Maersk Line, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Nippon Yusen Kaisha, Orient Overseas Container Line, United Arab Shipping Co. and Wan Hai Line.

Oakland is the nation’s fifth-busiest container port, handling upward of 2.3 million TEUs annually. It is a major gateway for exports from the agriculturally rich San Joaquin and Salinas valleys.