THE ROW between the Limassol Licensed Porters Association (LLPA), the Cyprus Ports Authority (CPA) and other bodies affected by the LLPA’s reduction in coverage of cargo loading services was resolved yesterday, following a meeting at the Communications Ministry.
Representatives of the LLPA and CPA met with Communications Minister Nicos Nicolaides yesterday morning and agreed a basic formula designed to resolve any disputes in the future.
The row erupted following the LLPA’s unilateral decision to reduce cargo loading services in Limassol port from July 4, due to “the economic crisis and a 26 per cent reduction in the workload”.
The reduced service involved cutting the third working shift and stopping working on Saturday afternoons after 4.30pm, Sundays and holidays. The move by the LLPA was driven by the economic alternative of having to lay off 22 employees.
The LLPA is a professional association rather than a trade union, consisting of 68 self-employed registered porters who are all “equal in status and number of shares” and who handle the movement of containers within the Limassol port area. The LLPA itself has 84 employees, including an engineer, electricians, mechanics and 59 drivers of gantry cranes, forklifts and other loading vehicles. It also buys equipment on a shared basis, from desktop computers to loading vehicles.
LLPA President Stavros Stavrou’s insisted on Tuesday that his association had informed the CPA of its plans five months ago and that the new measures would only apply to cargoes with Cyprus as the final destination. He also said that his members would continue to honour the existing agreement to service transhipments on a 24-hour basis.
Despite these assurances, the Cyprus Shipping Association (CSA), which represents the shipping agents, complained to the CPA on July 6 about the “unnecessary measures” which – it said – within two days had resulted in 11 ships being delayed by between 24 and 48 hours.
The CSA also “regretfully” pointed out that the CPA seemed to be too “tolerant regarding the whole issue” and “perhaps had not appreciated the knock-on effects” of continuing with the new measures, which “threaten to blast our port industry apart”.
Following the CSA’s request to the Communications Minister to intervene, the LLPA and CPA were invited to yesterday morning’s meeting.
In the short-term, the formula agreed yesterday calls for the LLPA to suspend its current measures and for both sides to enter into “serious and rapid” dialogue until September 15, with the aim of resolving the current dispute. The LLPA will put the formula to its General Assembly today for approval.
For its part, the CPA must now consider whether to “subsidise” in some way Limassol’s cargo services during the slowdown, with a view to renegotiating the service contract when it ends in under twelve months.
Although the two sides disagree on the extent of the recent reduction in commercial activity in the port – the CPA says 20 per cent, the LLPA 26 per cent – the Communications Ministry emphasised the fact that all sides agree that the drop in activity is due to the impact of the economic slowdown.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, Nicolaides said that the aim going forward is to help Limassol and other Cypriot ports to maintain and improve their attractiveness as a transhipment destination.
An informed source from the CSA told the Cyprus Mail: “The government cannot be expected to change the basic situation”, where imports have dropped significantly due to the economic crisis, and “we can’t all ask for an increase in earnings as soon as the crisis bites – if the LLPA has lost income, so have we.”
He added: “The point is that everyone involved has to accept that we’re all in this together – we can’t have one party trying to offset its losses onto another party in the same industry.”
