Cochin port truckers on strike

I heard about this from one of my contacts, but they were short on details. Supposedly hundreds of containers are stuck at the port and the movement of containers in and out of the port has been halted. Via newKerala.com:

The lorry drivers had gone on a lightning strike on Tuesday night, complaining about the delay in entry into the Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal at Cochin Port.

The drivers said they had to wait for more than three hours to get into the terminal as the India Gateway Terminals Pvt. Ltd. (IGTPL), which operates the Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal, had imposed restrictions on entry to avoid congestion at the port during peak hours.

With the talks between the CPT, IGTPL officials and the drivers failing to make any headway yesterday, the port has decided not to go in for any further talks till the strike is withdrawn, the port spokesman said.

”There was absolutely no reason to go on a lightning strike. Not only will this affect the exporters, who will not be able to meet their deadlines, this reflects badly on the port also, especially at a time when we are going all out to get business from other states also,” he added.