An increasing number of new immigrants to Israel are finding themselves without their household belongings, as Israel-bound ships, unable to unload their cargo in the country’s ports, are taking their loads elsewhere. The latest shipping “fiasco” to hit Israeli ports is the result of strikes and work slowdowns by dock workers, in protest of a government plan to privatize a portion of the ports.
“It’s a fiasco,” says Shmuel Mantinband of Sonigo International Shipping, one of several major shipping agents affected by the work sanctions. “It’s a very difficult situation for everyone involved, including shipping lines, agents and the clients.”
As work slowdowns continue, many ships find themselves waiting at Israeli ports for a week or more, unable to unload at least part of their cargoes. Often these ships end up sailing back to ports in Turkey, Italy and other points in the Mediterranean, where they unload the remainder of their Israel-bound shipments, including shipments that dozens of new immigrants have been counting on to start their new lives in Israel.
"We are literally being held hostage by the ZIM shipping company," said one new immigrant. Yitzhak Meirowitch, along with his wife and children, arrived in Israel several weeks ago from the United States, and their long-awaited shipment has yet to arrive.
On August 27, Israeli dock workers, acting through the national Histadrut union, announced a general strike as an attempt to prevent the government from enacting a paragraph in the 2009 Economic Arrangements bill that authorizes the use of private contractors in Israeli ports. The initial strike lasted until September 5 and slowed loading and unloading activities by an estimated 40-50 percent in Ashdod, with additional work reductions in the Haifa port.
For those like Meirowitch, the only way to receive their goods at this point is to pay the shippers an additional fee to send the shipment from the re-routed port in which it is currently being held. "It's not fair that we are being charged double for something that was not our fault," said the father of two.
Mantinband points out that the blame for the shipping diversions and the resulting fees does not lay entirely with the shipping lines. “They want to unload, but don’t know what the situation is going to be,” he said.
The shipping agent described a situation marked by a “tremendous lack of knowledge and lack of certainty” in Israeli ports. As one example, he cited a report issued two days ago on the status of 25 ZIM vessels, half of which were expected to unload on Wednesday.
“Over a three-day period, the status went from ‘not going to unload’ to ‘going to unload on [September] 24,’ and in the end they were unloaded a day early.” Due to the continued work slowdown, it’s “difficult for anyone to know what’s really going on, almost impossible to know what’s going to happen,” said Mantinband.
He noted that under international maritime law, shipping lines have a legal right to declare an “end of voyage,” releasing them from responsibility for the cargo, even if the cargo is not unloaded in the destination indicated in the bill of voyage.
“To add salt to the wounds,” Mantinband said, ports holding the rerouted goods often charge a daily fee for storage.
"It has made our initial absorption very difficult," Meirowitch continued. "We have absolutely nothing, every meal we have to eat out and we are sleeping on air mattresses."
"There is nothing I can do about it," he lamented. "If we want our things then we will have to pay."
According to a report published following a strike in 2004, many workers in the Histadrut-dominated Ports Authority earn 40,000 NIS per month, nearly six times the average wage in Israel. Apparently this salary is not enough for the current strikers, and Mantinband doubts the strike will end until after the Jewish High Holidays. “I can say cynically they will not strike until after the holidays. They get so many benefits during the holidays” such as paid time off and other perks.
However, said Mantinband, “One day it’s going to end.One day they’ll start working like normal.”