The shipping industry that served as a lifeline for economies during the pandemic has joined the global backlash against Putin’s military offensive by severing trade ties. Government sanctions mean that Russian ships are often barred from docking at ports. However, some loopholes mean that Russian goods and energy can still be transported to countries using foreign ships; there is currently no blockade of oil and gas from Russia.
However, port workers are taking action on their own, refusing to load Russian cargo.
pressure mechanism. Dock workers around the world are pushing to extend bans on Russian ships from their ports, measures that would potentially blacklist more than 1,700 vessels, as its invasion of Ukraine strains global supply chains already. interrupted. Longshoremen’s unions in Canada, the US and Australia have already started refusing entry to Russian merchant ships, following the UK’s decision to do so as part of an escalating series of sanctions.
The tendency. Mediterranean Shipping Co. and AP Moller-Maersk A/S, the world’s two largest container lines, halted Russian cargo bookings, with Maersk warning customers that the wider consequences will have “a global impact,” not they will only be limited to trade with Russia. Almost all of the largest container shipping carriers, with China’s Cosco Shipping Co. a notable exception, publicly refuse to book Russian cargo.
In a tweet, the San Francisco-based International Longshore & Warehouse Union said its members “will not load or unload any Russian cargo entering or leaving the 29 West Coast ports of the United States.”
Effective immediately, #ILWU dockworkers will not load or unload any Russian cargo coming into or going out of all 29 US West Coast ports. 1/4
— ILWU Coast Longshore Division (@ilwulongshore) March 3, 2022
the british case. The Essar Group, which runs the Stanlow refinery in northwest England, said a German-flagged ship had been given approval to dock at the nearby Tranmere oil terminal on the River Mersey. However, Sharon Graham, general secretary of Britain’s Unite union, said its members “will under no circumstances unload Russian oil, regardless of the nationality of the ship delivering it.”
Meanwhile, two Russian ships due to dock in Kent, in south-east England, were turned away this weekend due to sanctions. Grain LNG port staff had expressed anger that they might be asked to unload cargoes from ships.
In the rest of Europe. One of the ships, the Boris Vilkitsky carrying a gas shipment, docked at the port of Montoir-de-Bretagne in France after being denied entry to Britain. Greenpeace said in a statement that it had confronted the tanker in an inflatable boat at sea, and activists were holding a banner reading “War on Fossil Fuels” when he arrived in France.
In the Netherlands, where Russian ships are not currently banned, port workers are also taking a stand. They are preparing for a backlash from the oil companies and shippers. Niek Stam, spokesman for the Dutch union FNV Havens, said: “There is blood in this oil, blood in this coal and blood in the gas… We are in the process of figuring out how we can boycott it without risking a huge fine in court.” .
In New Zealand and Australia. The union that represents dockworkers and seafarers in Australia wants to do the same and is pushing for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to join other governments in sanctioning Russia. The New Zealand Maritime Union and the Rail and Shipping Union teamed up this week to deliver letters of protest to captains of Russian-owned and -flagged ships calling at the country’s ports.
The ITF estimates there are around 1,522 Russian-flagged vessels over 500 gross tons, with the majority being container ships, bulk carriers and oil tankers, according to databases available to the union. In addition, some 200 ships do not fly the Russian flag, but are registered in the name of real owners in Russia or controlled from the country.
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