Ship queues outside the port of Piraeus

Of George Georgiou

We had a last-minute reversal in the port of Piraeus, as Cosco accepted last night some basic demands of the workers, who were planning a strike on the two days of November 5-6, protesting against the death of their colleague on October 25.

“We have fought a hard battle and we will fight even harder so that there is no more dead or injured colleague. We will not take a step back if our demands are not met,” said the workers’ union (ENEDEP) at piers II and III of the Container Station. , in a statement issued yesterday morning.

According to the same announcement, the employees demand “to clarify the case of the accident of Dimitris Daglis, to create a health and safety committee, to stop the counter shifts at 12 o’clock, six posts (six people per shift in each post) and to sign BCC that meets modern needs “.

Finally, Cosco and after the intervention of the Ministry of Shipping and the business entities of Piraeus accepted a number of key requests.

It is noted, however, that the strike has not been officially suspended yet and today at 14:00 the general assembly of the union will be held for final decisions.

Congestion conditions

At the same time, congestion problems in the largest Greek port remain.

According to his information Capital.gr, about 30 container vessels, mother vessels and feeders, have formed “queues”, waiting to be serviced, in the wake of the closure of the two piers last week.

On the other hand, Pier I of the PPA is operating at a normal pace, as the strike there lasted one day.

At the same time, from November 5-7, about 35 ships are expected at the three piers of the port, according to data shared by the MarineTraffic shipping portal with Capital.gr, opera means that conditions will worsen. Attached is a photo of how the situation was shaped yesterday at all three piers.

Of course, the “queues” have significantly increased the waiting times for servicing ships, which before the recent problems, did not exceed 12 hours.

With the new data, it is estimated that it will take about a month for the situation to escalate and the port to return to normal.

Sources close to the regular shipping lines, that is, those carried by the containers, refer to Capital.gr that some ships that had been waiting for some days had already left.

At the same time, there are cases of companies considering leaving and ending their planned voyage to another Mediterranean port, citing force majeure, which is stipulated by Maritime Law because the strike is part of it. the frame.

What does this mean; As the same sources explain, the goods destined for Piraeus will end up in another port and the importers will be invited at their own expense to bring them back.