The Hyperion Highway, a Japanese-owned container ship carrying 7,000 vehicles bound for the Middle East and Europe, has been prevented from leaving the Hambantota Port for four days by disgruntled shipping trade union workers.
“The workers are not letting the ship leave. They have positioned forklifts so that it is impossible to untie the ropes and unmoor the ship. They have also lowered gantry cranes to ensure the ship cannot leave,” said Tressel Silva, operations manager for ABC Shipping, the agent for “K” Line, the shipping outfit that owns the Hyperion Highway.
Hyperion Highway, a car carrier vessel belonging to Kawasaki Group of Japan berthed at Hambantota harbor on December 6 and completed operations on December 7.
Its next port of call is Sohar Port in Oman and the ship is scheduled to arrive there by December 11. The vessel is taken hostage by the union workers after the operation was completed on December 7.
The vessel cannot sail as Gantry Cranes are blocking its path out of the channel and there is no pilot and tug boats to guide the vessel out of the Port.
The protesters attempted to climb to the vessel using ropes yesterday evening.
The delays have cost the shipping company around 200,000 dollars so far, and there is a possibility that the company will have to pay penalties due to the fact that it will deliver the shipments behind schedule.
The union workers’ complaints reportedly stem from the signing of a public-private partnership between the Sri Lankan government and the China Merchants Group that transfers an 80% stake in the Hambantota port to the Chinese state-owned company.
The workers are purportedly upset that the deal stipulates that they will soon be transferred to the payroll of the Chinese company instead of that of the Magam Ruhunupura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port.
Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga met with union representatives and said that he was unable to stop the transfer of workers to the Chinese company. He did guarantee, however, that nobody would lose his or her job.
There have been reports that union members have pelted the ship with stones and restricted access to the ship with barbed wire. A number of protesters reportedly continue to occupy space near the vessel.
Two other container ships that are currently outside the port will most likely be rerouted to Singapore or Indian ports due to the ongoing situation.
The Navy has been called in to remedy the situation and is now guarding the stranded vessel.
“We are lending our support and protecting the ship,” Navy Media Spokesperson Captain Akram Alavi said.
Representatives from ABC Shipping are upset about the slow response by the Ministry of Ports and Shipping.
“We have gotten very little support from the Ministry of Ports and Shipping. This crisis has gone on too long, and it will likely hurt the Sri Lankan shipping business in the future,” ABC Shipping Executive Director Roshan Dissanayake said.
Meanwhile, Sea Port Employees Committee and Propaganda Secretary Vice Chairman I.K.Omesh said that the employees have served the institution for a period of four and a half years under the
Magampura sea port project.
Speaking at a press conference in Hambantota last evening, he said that the employees were trained by the Sri Lanka Port Authority.
He said that the sea port will be vested with a Chinese firm and then their jobs will be lost. He said that they are not prepared to work under a man power company as employees who have served the institution for a period of four and half years.
Omesh said that wild rumours are being spread that the sea port employees have come under the influence of an invisible political force to stage this protest.
While totally denying this allegation, he stressed that the only motive behind their protest was to protect their jobs in order to lead self reliant lives with their children and parents.
He said that there are two ships at the sea port and that the activities of these ships that have arrived from China and Singapore have come to a standstill as a result of the protest campaign. He further said that these ships have been anchored for the past three days. He said last night naval officers tried to move the ships from the sea port but failed due to the obstructions placed by the protesters.
He urged President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to intervene and settle the matter because the Ports Minister seems has so far failed to settle the dispute.