Recent malfunctioning of the Crane equipment at Hamilton dock has caused huge delays.

On Monday afternoon, the collapse of two cranes came during (prohibited) overtime by dock workers.

The malfunctioning has meant the cargo ship “Bermuda Islander” had to return to the United States partially loaded.

Carrying very few containers compared to her usual quantity, the ship returned with far less than was needed to achieve their schedule.

Sources from shipping side told the Bermuda Sun that if the ban status remains the same then there will not be sufficient empty containers in United States to bring back the supplies and cargo which is bound for Bermuda.

Mr. Howard from Bermuda Container Lines told: “The Cranes collapses further worsen the delays, obviously when the cranes were not operational so we lost valuable time that can be used for unloading the ships”

Talks between the Bermuda Industrial Union & Stevedoring Services are still in process to reach to a conclusion. Kim Wilson, labor minister, has referred this dispute to an arbitration to maintain the disruption to a lower level.

CEO of Stevedoring Services Limited told the Bermuda sun: “I was not aware of the breakdown of the second crane but the first one only”

Disruption

This certainly has a wider effect at the moment when every working hour is important for us. If the overtime ban stays then there will be small level disruption as the schedule is bit behind. The workers are doing their best and they are doing a superb job.

I am not sure when the arbitration proceeding will start but I believe that this situation should be resolves as soon as possible.

Labor minister Wilson said that she was still confident that both the parties would come to an agreement even before the case went to arbitration. She also said that she has already referred the case to the PAT for settlement on Monday.

She has asked every party to nominate one of the panel members to serve as a Tribunal member. Moreover, both the parties should also submit in writing the subject to be served as the terms of reference for the Tribunal. In case of failure of compliance to this by either party, I will proceed to set the terms of reference on the basis of feedback supplied by the 2^nd party. She also stated that referring this matter to the PAT does not mean that parties can not attempt to reach to a mutually agreeable contract. I am still confident that both the parties will come to an agreement on their own.