Possible closing of the Port of Haifa, where 1, 600 dock workers have been conducting a slowdown strike for more than five weeks, was being considered here today by the Shipowners’ Section of the Israel Chamber of Commerce. Spokesmen for the shipowner estimated that the labor dispute at Baifa, which entered its sixth week today, has already cost them $1, 000, 000.
The companies, of which Zim-Israel Lines is the largest, said today they will discuss the possibility of diverting Haifa port traffic to Ashdod and other Mediterranean harbors. The firms stated that, if they implement this diversion, their action is likely to be followed by foreign shipping companies, resulting in the complete shutdown of the Haifa harbor.
The North American Israel Eastbound Conference meanwhile announced yesterday that, due to the Haifa slowdown, a 20 percent surcharge will be imposed, effective July 3, on trans-Atlantic cargo rates for Israel. Aaron Rosenfeld, agent for American Export Lines, said the losses due to the congestion in the harbor at Haifa were “substantial.” One of his firm’s ships, he said, which arrived here last Monday with 1, 200 tone of general cargo, would spend nine days awaiting unloading, against a normal stay of three days. The ship, he declared, costs his company $2 a minute while in service. A similar surcharge on shipping between Israel and Europe went into effect last Monday.
Moshe Kol, Minister of Development and Tourism, said today he would bring the entire issue to the Israeli Cabinet. Stating that the strike has caused serious losses, he denounced it as “a blow to the national prestige.”
Mrs. Golda Meir, Mapai secretary general, appealed last night to the Haifa port workers to end their slowdown which has crippled port operations and return to normal work schedules. She made the appeal in a speech to the Mapai Secretariat.
In another development, the central committee of the Histadrut, Israel’s labor federation, reiterated its refusal to allow the stevedores wage increases deviating from the Government policy on wages. The committee was called in special session by Histadrut Secretary General Aharon Becker, who warned the dock workers that the Histadrut would break off all contact with them if they continued to “ignore Histadrut discipline.” He urged them to reconsider their stand.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
