ITF: Docker Suffers Fatal Injuries at Karachi Terminal

A Pakistani docker suffered fatal injuries in an incident at Hutchison Port’s Karachi International Container Terminal (KICT), according to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).

The 58-year-old yard checker passed away in the evening hours of March 17, 2019, at the Civil Hospital Karachi less than an hour after a reach stacker reversed over him.

“This is the second time in months that I’ve be forced to say this: workers are losing their lives at Hutchison ports – an atrocious record for the biggest stevedore in the world – and families and friends are left to bear the scars,” said Paddy Crumlin, International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) Dockers’ Section Chair.

“Safety standards in the yard area are very bad. There is poor lighting in the yard and no one directing traffic management,” ITF said, citing a worker who requested to remain anonymous.

The ITF, together with the KICT Labour Union, has called on Hutchinson’s global management to intervene and instigate a joint labour/management investigation into the incident.

This incident follows the death of five workers at Hutchison’s Jakarta International Container Terminal (JICT), between 2016 and 2018, and a serious incident in 2018 at Hutchison’s Port Botany terminal in Sydney that left at worker at fighting for her life in an induced coma suffering a broken leg, broken arm and a closed head injury, according to ITF.