SEVENTY per cent of container truckers using Ningbo - the world’s sixth-largest box port - have joined a strike that started last Monday over pay scales that have not changed since 2005.
Picket lines were established in front of various large container depots in the area, which prevented the movement of equipment and freight in and out of the yards.
Many major roads connecting the port terminal and container yard were also blocked.
The government and truckers association did not reach an agreement when they met, reported the American Journal of Transportation.
Marine carriers are re-routing freight to different terminals when possible, but traffic bottlenecks, equipment shortages, and missed vessel loadings continue.
“There are around 13,000 trucks working in Beilun and 70 per cent are participating,?a senior official of Ningbo Port Association (NPA) told Lloyd’s List.
Other sources say container transport to and from the Ningbo Beilun International Container Terminals, was chiefly affected.
The NPA official said owner-operator trucker also went on strike because of stringent environmental regulations, "unreasonable" port entry fees, and shipper payment terms.
In Ningbo, owner-operators and drivers who work for them negotiate rates with cargo agents and shippers through transport companies, which act as their agents.
Rates published by Ningbo Transportation Association Container Branch (NTACB), an industry group representing transport firms, forms the basis of pricing talks, said the report.
The NTACB website announced early this month that the guideline rate would increase 12 per cent, partially meeting demands of truckers.
The organisation said it had gained consent from cargo interests to impose the higher rate and asked striking truckers to resume operations.
But the NPA official was pessimistic, saying, "simply increasing rates is not enough. Their demands are multifaceted?
Ningbo Beilun International Container Terminals, run by Hong Kong's Hutchinson Port Holdings (HPH) and Ningbo Port Group, accounts for 180 sailings a month.
An email to HPH seeking comment won no response, said Lloyd's List. Ningbo Port Group also declined comment.