(IsraelNN.com) The Immigration and Absorption Ministry is considering offering financial compensation to new immigrants (olim) whose household shipments were delayed and sent to foreign ports due to the recent Histadrut labor strike at Israel's ports.

The walkout was held in the last week of August and beginning of September to protest a clause in the 2009 Economic Arrangements Bill that called for privatization of new port operations. 

Hundreds of ships were diverted to foreign countries in the Mediterranean basin to unload their cargo, including numerous shipments of household goods belonging to new immigrants who had just arrived in Israel.

Many immigrants are still without the furniture, clothing and other goods they had planned to bring to Israel, and many of their possessions are located in Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus, Italy and elsewhere.

Officials from the Transportation and Immigrant Absorption ministries have met to discuss the problem, but the shipping companies in charge of bringing new immigrants' belongings to Israel are unlikely to reduce the charges for bringing shipments to Israel a second time. 

The government is considering compensating immigrants for the extra costs after Sukkot. If the government does not decide to help, attorney Moshe Leshem noted that new immigrants have legal recourse to fight the additional charges that result from the extra leg on the journey of their shipments and recommended the following:

--Note that if the carrier unloads a shipment at any port other than the one marked on the papers as the official destination, it must declare the substitute port to be "end of voyage" or continue the voyage to Israel as stated in the original contract. If the carrier declares the foreign port to the "end of voyage," contact the insurance company that insured the shipment and increase coverage of the items to cover the final leg of the journey to Israel, so at least the items will be protected.

--It is possible to sue the carrier for being charged the extra fee; file the claim in Small Claims Court, where plaintiffs can sue for up to NIS 30,000 ($8,500).