Water Transport workers end strike after govt assurances on sailors' murders

Water transport workers have called off their strike, which was initiated to demand justice for the murder of seven sailors on a lighter ship in Chandpur.

The strike, which began at midnight on Thursday, was suspended on Saturday night following productive discussions between labour leaders and government officials, along with assurances from the government and a request from the Directorate General of Shipping.

It had disrupted operations at all ports, called for compensation for the victims' families and improvements in safety on the waterways. Initially, the strike applied to all types of vessels but was later amended to exclude passenger vessels in order to reduce commuter disruptions.

Nabi Alam, joint secretary of the Water Transport Workers' Federation, confirmed the suspension of the strike to The Business Standard, stating that workers had resumed their duties. By Sunday morning, port activities had returned to normal, with goods being unloaded from vessels onto lighter ships at the outer anchorage of Chittagong Port.

At the peak of the strike, about 1.5 million tons of imported goods were stranded on mother vessels at Chittagong Port and various other ports across the country.

The Bangladesh Water Transport Coordination Cell (BWTCC) reported that 738 ships carrying over 1 million tons of goods were idled at 57 wharves nationwide. Operations have since resumed, allowing these ships to continue their journeys.

Additionally, 20 mother vessels carrying 444,200 tons of goods were anchored, while 62 lighter ships, scheduled to load goods on 25-26 December, were left idle. With the strike lifted, these ships are expected to resume operations.

The strike followed a tragedy on 23 December, when the Coast Guard recovered the bodies of five crew members and rescued three others from the MV Al-Bakhera, which was en route to Sirajganj.

Two of the injured later died in hospital.