EMS APO battles Durres labour issues

According to EMS APO, which is part of Germany’s EMS-Fehn-Group, staff members of rival stevedoring companies lead by their management occupied the terminal on 16 June. EMS APO says this is the result of an ongoing campaign by the DPA, with the help of the Ministry of Transportation, to “squeeze EMS APO out of the business”.

“We’re forbidden to do any loading or unloading so it’s virtually closed down since Tuesday 16 June,” Jan Kaymer, marketing and communications, EMS, told PortStrategy. “Of course we are doing everything we can to get things running again but we are not very optimistic because of our past experience.”

The past few months have seen the DPA order EMS APO to stop all stevedoring activities several times. EMS APO says the DPA recently stopped the discharging of a train and ordered the vessel to re-berth to a terminal under the control of the DPA.

This latest attempt saw 50 to 60 staff members of three rival companies enter the terminal and climb ore piles being loaded, forcing crane operators of EMA APO to stop loading. After being denied police help, EMS APO decided to stop the loading process to avoid any injuries and to de-escalate the situation. Later attempts to restart loading were met by renewed illegal occupation of the terminal.

EMS APO managing director, Manfred Müller, said to PS: “We have no idea why it’s happening. From our point of view and our lawyers’, our contract with DPA is crystal clear but since the government changed in 2013, they started putting pressure on us.”

“Our leasing fee for the East Terminal is €65,000 per month, but how long can you keep paying for a terminal if you can’t operate it?” Mr Kaymer added.

EMS told PS the German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to attend an investor’s conference with the Albanian government in early July with the hope of helping to solve the ongoing problem.

Back in 2013, EMS APO invested €5m into the infrastructure of the terminal, which is mainly used for import and export of bulk cargo such as chrome, clinker and coal, but also other cargo like break bulk, general and project cargo.