Port Authority's finance committee approved NIS 100m to reimburse shippers

The finance committee of the Israel Port Authority (IPA) adopted last week a resolution which will open the way to reimburse shippers who were forced to absorb extra heavy costs following last July-August ports strike.
 
The committee headed by Mr. Yoram Blizovsky approved the payment of up to NIS 100 millions to cover termination of voyage expenses as well as ship's detention at ports and other similar expenses.
 
The ports strike which lasted from July 12th to August 10th, is considered by local economists as the most destructive ever to be experienced in Israel. Its seriousness is attributed to its long duration and due to the fact that for the first time ships had to unload containers destined for Israel at other ports in order to continue their routes. The strike created also an acute shortage of empty containers mainly due to the fact that some 30,000 – 40,000 containers were unloaded by shipping companies during the strike, in several nearby ports and the collection of which was a long logistic operation.
 
The decision to reimburse shippers is yet to be approved by the port authority's board of directors.
 
Mr. Amos Ron director general of the PA said in a press release that the money to pay the extra financial costs approved by the finance committee, would be taken from the annual royalties the PA had to pay to the Government.
 
Following the decision made by the committee, the Israel Shipper's Council published yesterday a directive to members to ensure they had the relevant documents : bills of lading, freight statements as well as delivery orders indicating the payment for termination of voyage, Detention, additional freight etc. with which claims could be made.