Drivers' protest disrupts port

THE Irish Road Haul age Association (IRHA) has called for improved pay for container truck drivers following a protest involving up to 300 vehicles in Dublin Port yesterday.

Dublin Port said it was "disappointed" at the drivers' action which affected daily traffic of up to 400 containers. Sailings were not disrupted. The protest appeared to have been scaled down to about two dozen trucks last night.

"We believe that this is a consequence of Dublin Port's success," a port spokesman said. "We are aware of problems such as the congestion that th&re has been over the bank holiday weekend, but this is not the right way to go about registering objections.

"It is not clear if the trucks are organised," he added.

The "park-down" began outside Dublin Ferryport Terminals, a subsidiary of the Irish Continental Group (ICG), yesterday morning and had begun to affect at least two of the port's shipping companies by the afternoon.

At one stage, access to oil terminals and safety equipment appeared to be at risk and there were fears that one of the ferries could be blockaded.

However, following intervention by Dublin Port officials, the action was confined to the terminal area.

The IRHA stressed that for legal reasons it was not directly involved in the action, which is understood to have been precipitated by bank holiday delays at the terminal.

Drivers have also been concerned about pay and general working conditions for some time, the IRHA said.

A spokesman said the association was unable to intervene to cool the situation, as its hands were tied. One of the shipping companies had accused it of trying to set up a cartel on behalf of hauliers, the spokesman said.

The association had made representations in Brussels, and itwas unfortunate that certain shipping companies were seeking to "hide behind competitions legislation".

Rates set some 12 years ago still apply to certain load-on/load-off haulage operations, according to the IRHA. In some cases, taxi drivers were paid more for their cross-city journeys than hauliers, the association said. The average rate for a delivery of containers from Coolock to the port was about £60, it said A spokesman for Irish Continental Group said it hoped the protest would not last. Ferry sailings were continuing as normal, he said.