Water transport workers' strike costs importers Tk 5.50cr

Importers had to bear around Tk 5.50 crore demurrage in the last two days in Chittagong following a strike enforced by the workers of lighter vessels since Thursday night demanding their pay hike, the importers claimed.
The strike suspended unloading of imported goods from 16 cargo vessels at the outer anchorage of Chittagong Port.
Although the countrywide launch strike was withdrawn Friday night, workers of the lighter vessels in Chittagong port did not join work until 7:30 pm yesterday.
Loading and unloading of goods from vessels and transportation of goods remained completely stranded due to the strike. Some 16 cargo vessels carrying over two lakh tonnes of imported goods including rice, wheat, yellow peas, raw sugar and raw materials like clinker, TSP and gypsum remained idle in the deep sea.
One of these cargo vessels MV Sea Power arrived on July 8 at the outer anchorage with 4,000 tonnes of rice imported by the government, sources said. Of which, 3,200 tonnes were discharged.
M/S Masud and Brothers imported 54,331 tonnes of wheat and yellow peas (pulses) through MV Noble Hawk that arrived on June 22. Some 83 percent of the imported goods have been unloaded.
“We have to bear Tk 34.5 lakh ($25,000 per day) loss for the strike,” Abul Bashar Chowdhury, managing director of Masud & Brothers, said.