Ningpo Port Truckers Strike, Disrupt Freight
Thousands of truck drivers went on strike over salary and haulage rates in the eastern Chinese port of Ningbo this week, and a logistics firm said on Friday the industrial action was disrupting operations at the world's sixth busiest port. In a statement on its official microblog account, Ningbo Port Co Ltd said the strike had started over trucking rates but declined to give further details. The company said it was taking measures to ensure that operations at the port, China's third busiest, were not disrupted and to ensure losses were kept to a minimum. Local media reported the strike began at the Beilun area of the port and that it started with a few hundred drivers and escalated on Thursday to a few thousand, who clashed with police.
Survey Says: Shippers Diverting Cargo, Increase Stocks, Against More Port Shutdowns
U.S. shippers, uncertain over timely settlement of the West Coast ports dispute, are making contingency plans against additional service disruptions, according to a nationwide survey by logistics specialist BDP International (BDP). Currently favored actions, reported by 74 percent of supply-chain managers surveyed, include cargo diversions to East Coast ports, favored by almost 52% percent; increases in safety stocks, 34%; alternate sourcing, 29%; and diversions to Gulf Coast ports, 29%. Shippers also anticipate long-term changes in supply-chain management, to be prepared for similar disruptions in the future. West Coast ports reopened Oct. 9, after the Bush administration imposed an 80-day cooling-off period under the Taft-Hartley Act.
