Asia/Pacific News
Melbourne: Dockers Refuse to Unload Ship
Dockers in the southern Australian port of Melbourne have refused to work cargo on a box ship carrying medical equipment and other goods over contagion fears.
Sixty dockers, who said that the 2000 container-laden ship had not completed its 14-day quarantine period, were temporarily laid off by port operator DP World, according to local news provider the Age.
The ship sailed from mainland China on March 17, continued on to Kaohsiung in Taiwan and then headed to Melbourne two days later, the report said.
DP World's chief operating officer Andrew Adam was reported as saying that the vessel had been cleared to berth at DP World by the Australian Border Force and the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment's Biosecurity.
A union official said the dockers acted because all vessels should be quarantined for a 14-day period if they arrive from an overseas port.
