As per the decision taken at a meeting chaired by the Jagatsinghpur District Collector on Tuesday in which the District Superintendent of Police and other State Government officials, port officials and a team of the All India Stevedores' Federation and PPT stakeholders participated, the cease-work resorted to by the Paradip Port Stevedores' Association and the Dumper Owners' Association on September 16 came to an end from Wednesday morning.
The port authorities, honouring the constructive suggestions given by the Collector, had made arrangements for revocation of the order for cancellation of the permits issued to all dumpers and drivers and helpers of the vehicles from Tuesday afternoon. All the stakeholders including stevedores and dumper owners resumed cargo operation from Wednesday, as a result of which complete normalcy in port operations including wagon/truck loading/unloading was restored.
Out of the 12 ships at berth, 11 are working in the port and one sailed on Wednesday morning. Similarly, three more ships were programmed to come for cargo operation in the afternoon and two were expected to sail out by Thursday morning.
The port authorities thanked the Collector, the SP and other Government officials, representatives of All India Stevedores' Federation, the president of Indian Freight Forwarders' Association and all stakeholders for resolving the impasse.
The port authorities also thanked the dumper owners and their associations for having brought in their dumpers on September 18 for giving their best efforts to work the ship MV HARM (carrying hard coking coal of JSPl) through the stevedore Seaways Shipping & logistics Pvt ltd, which is likely to complete the cargo operation by Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, the stevedoring row at the port took a new turn on Wednesday with the formation of a new stevedores' association, namely, Utkal Stevedores' Association.
The Seaways Shipping and logistics Private limited (SSPl) taking five other associations into its fold formed the new body to undertake cargo handling activities. On September 22 the Jagatsinghpur district administration registered the association.
Association president Pranakrushna Nayak told reporters that the aim of the association is to work in a disciplined manner for development of the port and of them as well. He urged the Paradip port authorities to extend support to them for smooth cargo handling.
Sources said the port authorities are ready to involve them in goods loading and unloading activities of the port.