Two striking drivers were reportedly detained by police in Hong Kong and many more were arrested after a group of striking truck rivers stormed the local police station to demand the release of their colleagues last month.
Picketing drivers at Ningbo’s Beilun Container Port reportedly smashed the windshields of trucks trying cross the picket line to enter the port and even laid tire-puncturing spikes at major entrances to prevent any traffic from going in and coming out, according to reports in the China Labor Bulletin.
Truck drivers — dissatisfied with haulage rates they could earn at the port — launched a protest that brought the world’s sixth largest container port to a standstill.
According to a website maintained by the industry watchdog group BDP International, the strike has impacted normal terminal operations, preventing loaded containers from being delivered to the terminal and import shipments being carried out delivered to customers.
The unrest began when truck owners unhappy with pay set up a picket line at the gate of the port, apparently unaware that the Ningbo Transportation Association had already planned to raise the trucking rate by 12 percent and announce it on Aug. 22.