Reuters cited senior official saying that a strike by contract workers in India's eastern port of Haldia has disrupted export shipments of iron ore and import consignments of coal and manganese ore.

Mr B Ray Chaudhuri general manager of Haldia said nearly 50% of the operations have been affected, since the entire dry bulk cargo handled by the conventional method has stopped. The port handles around 90,000 tonne to 100,000 tonne of cargo everyday.

Mr Chaudhuri said the state government has called a meeting with the strikers, who are demanding higher wages and others including exporters, importers and handling agents on Friday to resolve the issue.

Iron ore exporters said the waiting time for ships to berth at Haldia has stretched to 20 days and has slowed down neighboring Paradip port as many ships had been diverted to it.

Haldia port officials and exporters said the waiting period usually ranges from a few days to a week, but the contract workers had struck work earlier in June also and had caused a queue.

(Sourced from Reuters)