Newsletter #434 (View other news stories)
Sydney Ports chastises stevedores
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Thursday, 29 Oct 2009
 Stevedores are blamed for recent delays at Port Botany. |
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Sydney Ports expects an immediate improvement from stevedores following poor performances at Port Botany.
Chief executive Grant Gilfillan says the unacceptable delays in recent weeks had seen truck drivers queuing for up to four hours for each trip to the port.
"We will be approaching the minister to move towards regulation if we don’t see an immediate improvement from the stevedores in the service provided to industry and their co-operation in delivering these reforms."
Gilfillan says changes by stevedores to treat Sunday as a normal working day for charging storage came as a surprise, given poor stevedoring performance and the lack of consultation.
"While Sydney Ports supports a transition towards 24/7 operations, it appears the stevedores decided upon these charges and have implemented them on a very short timeframe without speaking to anyone in industry.
"To unilaterally decide they are going to change their pricing regime and make Sunday a normal working day without discussing with anyone is completely against the spirit of the Port Botany reform program.
"The rest of the industry has been patient in waiting for the stevedores to pull their socks up and provide reliable service and timely notice of any delays. So far they have failed to provide either."
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