NEWARK, N.J. -- The strike by independent truckers appears to be waning at Port Newark/Elizabeth.

Donald P. Hamm, president of Port Newark Container Terminals, said he expects that 70 to 80 percent of the truckers will be back at work today and 100 percent Wednesday, based on what he has heard in his talks with executives of several trucking companies.

On Monday, only about half of the usual number of truckers showed up at PNCT, resulting in the terminal being able to complete only 400 container moves, compared to 900 on a normal day.

The truckers will be about three quarters of a ay behind when they come back to work," he said. That means there will be around 1,300 containers to be moved. "We'll have to handle from 200 to 225 more moves per day" to clear out the backlog, Hamm said. "It's like an assembly line with an average of one full ship coming in every day. One little hiccup and you get way behind."

Hamm said the strike was costing PNCT a "lot of money" because it had to maintain a full crew of longshoremen at the terminal yesterday, even though it only handled less than half the normal moves.

The strike at Newark, part of a loosely organized protest that saw truckers park their rigs at a half-dozen U.S. on Monday, centers on two issues, waiting time at terminals and surcharges paid by ocean carriers to truckers to cover the high cost of diesel fuel. Hamm said PNCT is addressing the waiting time by putting on more equipment and opening more gates to handle the truck traffic.

The terminal plans to open an extra gate by next Tuesday to handle the return of empty containers, which should ease traffic through the main gate, he said. Hamm said the timing of the opening depends on his talks with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on traffic flows on the road outside that gate.
Hamm said that most of the ocean carriers pay fuel surcharges for inland transport, and he hoped that "the surcharges are being passed on to the drivers."

He said he expects the terminal to return to normal by tomorrow. "We'll be back to 100 percent. Even if it's 90 percent we'll be OK."

By Peter T. Leach

 

Status at other ports:

• Baltimore: A handful of picketers at Seagirt gate but no disruption to traffic.
• Norfolk: All terminals are operational - no picket lines.
• Charleston: Moderate picketing outside of three terminals but no disruption to traffic.
• Savannah: Fully operational.
• Miami – Second day of picketing, trucks are not entering the port.
• Houston and West Coast – Operational.