Protestors claim to have blocked ZIM ship from docking in Oakland
Pro-Palestinian protestors, led by the San Francisco-based Arab Resource & Organizing Center (Aroc), have claimed victory in turning a ZIM ship away from the Port of Oakland in California. The organisation’s ‘Block the Boat’ campaign aims to prevent Israeli ship operator Zim Integrated Shipping Services from docking anywhere during an ‘International Week of Action’ that will end on June 9.
ZIM said that delays at Oakland were the reason for the ship’s departure. In a message to Middle East Eye, the carrier said, “Due to operational constraints and long delays in the port of Oakland, and in order to meet schedule departures in the Far East, we will be calling on other US West Coast Ports until further notice.”
According to Aroc, similar protests are planned for ports in Seattle, Los Angeles and New York, as well as Vancouver, Canada.
In May, members of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union in Durban, South Africa, responded to a call from the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions and refused to offload cargo from a ZIM ship.
Dockworkers in Livorno, Italy, withheld their service to load a shipment of arms going to Israel.
On May 25, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Northern California District Council also expressed its support of the Palestinians in a written statement.
What a joke.
The Volans is coming in at 5am Friday morning, going directly to Trapac berth 30, and intends to leave at 5am on Saturday, according to the SF bar pilots’ schedule dispatch board.
Right now it is 53 nautical miles from the Golden Gate bridge, riding the tide, as it has been for several days, until a berth is available.
I don’t get it. What is the joke? You make that remark, which provokes a reaction, and then just give technical information.
As a member of the Stop Zim Action Committee, I am more than happy to detail the enormous amount of misinformation in this post.
I hardly know where to start!
First, the date of this article was June 3rd, claiming we had turned the ship Volans away already. It didn’t come in to port, berth 30 Trapac, until Friday June 4th, and only after our successful morning picket did the ship cancel the afternoon shift, and leave, at 5.59pm.
The reason the ship was so delayed was the same as the other 35 ships riding the tide outside the SF Bay, or more at Anchorage 9 off Hunters Point. Post Covid spending spree had caused a massive increase in spending, especially on Amazon, and there are not enough people to deal with the huge backlog.
In addition, a Covid potential in LA, resulting in deaths of Longshoreman at the port, added to the delay.
There are more inaccuracies I can go into later of you like.
Covid outbreak in LA
Brilliant Jane. On a personal level l found the Zim crews, all Israelis, to be very arrogant, rude and demanding. I was a volunteer at the Missions to Seamen in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, when the Zim ships came in and their crews visited the Mission. They even refused to pay the local tax charged by the local telephone company on their long distance phone calls home. They expected the Mission to pay it. Unpleasant people. Great you stopped it discharging. Allowing the Zionists to steal land occupied by the Palestinians in 1948 was the greatest crime against humanity.
People organizing for freedom is never a joke, except to people opposed to it- for everyone except themselves, of course.
Please read my comment above. The article was a joke because of the incredible number of inaccuracies, of which I have detailed a few; not the action itself! I was on the organizing committee, and get exasperated by sloppy reporting.
Hopefully they will never be able to dock, every delay causes them to lose thousands and many delays will cause them millions. If the government refuses to take action the people will!
So I’m just wondering. Is your feeling the same for the Palestinians who are lobbing Rockets indiscriminately into Israel and have been doing so for years. Is it just because Israel has the Tactical advantage. You people seem awfully one-sided
Only an idiot would find equivalency between home made rockets trying to get through the “Iron Dome” defence and hundreds of sorties by F-16s, tanks, artillery, snipers, missiles, and so on. The casualty figures should tell you what’s happening, but for your pro-Zionist bias.