FNV Havens has commissioned a team of lawyers to investigate the possibility of boycotting Russian ships in the port of Rotterdam. That’s what driver Niek Stam says. Energy (gas, oil and coal) from Russia is not on the current European sanctions list and therefore still arrives at the port. “We are now looking for a legal way to boycott those lines.” With such a boycott, port workers affiliated to the FNV would no longer work with Russian ships if they have moral objections to it. FNV Havens has 6000 members.
The potential boycott is a way for the union and port workers to show solidarity with the Ukrainian population, Stam said. Port workers speak all over Europe their support to Ukraine in the war with Russia. The boycott would last at least the next three to four months. Stam prefers not to see any Russian ships in the harbor at all, even if they contain something other than gas or oil: “There is blood on them.” In the United Kingdom, the port has already been closed to Russian shipping traffic, as a result of which the Russian LNG tanker ‘Christophe de Margerie’, a large icebreaker, had to divert to Rotterdam.
The CNV, the Christian counterpart of the FNV, understands the position of the FNV, but says it is “more reserved” itself. “We have not yet received any signals from port workers that they are uncomfortable with the current situation. If that sentiment did arise, we would support the employees in this by entering into discussions with terminal companies.” Director Hanane Chikhi calls whether or not to ban Russian ships for the time being a choice for politicians or for employers, such as the terminal companies.
The Port of Rotterdam Authority has announced that it will not participate in a possible boycott as long as it is not government policy. In the short term, a boycott of Russian energy from European politics is unlikely, Prime Minister Rutte said in a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday. Reducing dependence on Russian energy will take time, Rutte said. If dock workers nevertheless refuse to work with Russian ships, it is up to the terminal companies concerned how to deal with this, said Port Authority spokesman Tie Schellekens. Unlike Europe, President Biden of the United States announced a boycott on Russian energy on Tuesday.
Containers destined for Russia are also still arriving at the port. Due to the sanctions, containers with ‘dual-use goods’, products that can be used for both civilian and military purposes, are not allowed to continue. Customs carries out extra checks, which causes delays and stacked containers at terminal companies. ECT, the port’s largest terminal company, has not yet had to stop unloading containers for Russia, but is monitoring the situation.
The company is now looking at it per day and per ship. Whether containers can still be unloaded also depends on how many containers leave the port again. “You have to see it as a box of blocks: when it’s full, it’s full,” said spokesman Rob Bagchus. “Particularly in the beginning, containers piled up. Now it is starting to run, but much has not yet been eliminated. We now have to look at what we are going to do with the containers left behind: store them separately or send them to another destination.”