Protests prevent ZIM ship from discharging in Oakland

ILWU says its members were threatened outside terminals by hostile demonstrators.    Another ZIM container ship was prevented from discharging and loading cargo at the Port of San Francisco over the weekend after demonstrations protesting Israeli military action in Gaza.
   The ship, ZIM Shanghai, is heading to the Port of Los Angeles, and the ship tracking website marinetraffic.com showed the ZIM Shanghai headed toward the Port of Los Angeles with an ETA of Tuesday.
   The International Longshore and Warehouse Union said in a statement that longshoremen and clerks dispatched to work the ship ZIM Shanghai at the Oakland terminal of Stevedoring Services of America “were met with hostile demonstrators, effectively blocking all access to the terminal. Longshoremen and clerks trying to report to work were threatened physically at some points of ingress, and their personal vehicles were physically blocked. As such, all personnel stood by outside of the demonstration perimeters for health and safety purposes. At approximately 8 p.m., SSA released all personnel from work.”
   ZIM’s website indicates that the ship participated in the company’s ZIM Container Service Pacific between East Asia and the U.S. East Coast and normally does not call Los Angeles.
   The ILWU said, “As far as the union can ascertain, the protests are organized by a coalition of individuals and organizations that plan events and create action alerts under the name of ‘Block the Boat for Gaza’ online.”
   The same group delayed another ZIM ship, ZIM Piraeus, ship from being worked in Oakland in August.
   The ILWU said it “is not among the groups organizing the protests, and the leadership and membership of the ILWU have taken no position on the Israel/Gaza conflict.”
   However, a group involved in the protests called the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee has several leaders who are current or former ILWU members. It said that “working with Local 10 and community supporters, we helped defend Palestinian rights” with port demonstrations.
   ZIM declined a request for a comment on the situation, but Rafi Danieli, the chief executive officer of ZIM noted in an interview for a story in the October issue of American Shipper (“The ‘New’ ZIM” p. 28-29) that ZIM is no longer owned by Israel and that it is a private company with more than half the stock owned by non-Israelis, many of them banks or other investors from Europe, the United States and Asia.
   ZIM’s published schedule shows that on its westbound leg, after transiting the Panama Canal, the ZIM Shanghai was scheduled to call Oakland before it proceeds to Vostochny, Russia.
   The normal rotation of the ZCP service is Savannah, Norfolk, New York, Halifax, Kingston, Panama Canal, Oakland, Vostochny, Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai, Pusan, Balboa, Panama Canal, Kingston, Savannah.