CHENNAI: More than 6,000 trailers and 2,000 open trucks that carry containers to Chennai, Kamarajar and Kattupalli ports have called off strike after the revision of hire charges and other issues were sorted out.
M.S. Arun, chairman, National Association of Container Freight Stations (Chennai chapter) told Express that the operations would resume from tonight. He said the talks between trailer owners associations and container freight stations (CFS) have resulted in revision of rates. "Now it is flat Rs 1,000 irrespective of distance or the location of CFS. Earlier, the rates were different and were fixed on the basis of distance and location of CFS. This is applicable for 20ft TEUs ( Twenty-
He also said that the charges by CFS with regard to 40 feet long containers have been reduced by Rs 100. It is learnt that the strike had an impact as 33 per cent of cargo was affected during the last five days. Around 1,500 import containers and 1,000 export containers pass through the three ports daily and these are moved by the trailers to and from the 32 container freight stations in and around the city.
Interestingly, after the container trucks went off the road, Chennai Port tried to minimise the impact on the trade. Chennai Port Chairman P Ravindran said that during the strike Chennai Port in co-ordination
with Southern Railway and CONCOR moved 1000 TEUs of EXIM Containers by 11 Trains to CONCOR CFS Tondiarpet.
Further, Chennai Port has arranged to run CONCOR Train to move the EXIM Containers to Melpakkam rail siding to cater the urgent need of the automobile OEM’s like Ford, Renault, Daimler. This has enabled the Container Terminals at Chennai Port to operate without yard congestion