Shipping changes starting to take bite out of dock strike

Things are looking up for fruit importers, two weeks into a walkout of dock workers that has delayed the clearance of containers at the Kwai Tsing port.

Wholesalers said Sunkist oranges, which are shipped in from the United States, were likely to continue selling at higher prices as produce from North and South America remained hit.

But Sunkist lemons would be replenished from tomorrow. They predicted the supply of Southeast Asian fruits, such as mangoes and durians, would also resume gradually as buyers adjusted shipping routes to avoid strike-hit container terminals.

The city has been putting up with a volatile supply of overseas fruits, for which shipping is a major channel of import, since hundreds of dockers at the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals walked off their jobs on March 28.

Wholesale prices of Sunkist oranges had been fluctuating in the past week, shooting up 30 to 40 per cent on some days, said Cheung Chi-cheung, vice-chairman of the Kowloon Fruit and Vegetable Merchants Association. "We need 15 to 20 containers of oranges every day, but the number once dropped to three [during the strike]," he said.

Yesterday, a big Sunkist orange cost HK$5 at the Bowrington Road wet market in Causeway Bay. It was HK$1 more than usual, a fruit seller said. Three Philippine mangoes went for HK$20, up from HK$16.

The situation had improved slightly since the early days of the strike, said wholesalers, whose prices now stand at about a fifth higher than usual.