The part-privatization of Algeria’s ports to major operator Dubai Ports World (DPW) has been hit by a series of rolling strikes by trade unions. The potential unrest stems from talks the government is holding with DPW over the company possibly taking a 50% stake in the container terminals at the ports of Algiers and of Djen Djen, in the eastern province of Jijel.
Algiers port has reached saturation point and will need considerable investment to extend it. However, the stumbling block at the moment is the plan to include the potentially highly lucrative Djen Djen port, and disagreement over the issue of bringing in a foreign owner. Some also point to the possible disquiet of those involved in the “trabendo” economy, or contraband imports, as looking to scotch the deal to preserve their lucrative, if illegal, niche.
Djen Djen’s port is something of an oddity, having been built to serve a steel plant that was never constructed. However, it has developed as a major point for container and dry cargo transport (notably grain) abroad. The purpose-built port also benefits from very good land transportation links, as well as deep water piers accessible to ships of up to 120,000 tons.
Local media have reported that DPW made a $70 million bid for the operation of the Djen Djen port, coupled with a $120-150 million investment program to upgrade it. In June, the transport ministry announced that negotiations were making good progress.
“Dubai Ports World took into account the principal requests of the Algerian side at the time of the first round of negotiations, which was held in Algiers on June 12,” the statement said. “We will be able to advance.” The deal seemed to be likely to be finalized by year’s end, officials have been reported as saying.
However, the umbrella union Coordination Nationale des Syndicats des Ports d’Algerie (CNSPA) has objected strongly to the plans to change the port’s ownership and their employer and threatened to block the deal.
One source of discontent is the government reneging on a pledge made by the minister for investment promotion, Abdelhamid Temmar, to tender the sale internationally rather than moving immediately to negotiate directly with DPW.
CNSPA has a membership of 14,000 across all of Algeria’s 10 most important ports, giving it a great deal of leverage in the situation, as has been show in the past. Strikes by CNSPA-affiliated unions in October 2005 against government privatization and labor restructuring plans left 100 ships abandoned by workers. The Port of Oran alone, where 15 ships were left stranded, hemorrhaged $130,000 a day during the industrial action. In May of this year, another anti-privatization strike shut down almost all Algeria’s ports, causing losses of up to $2.1 million in a single day.
Guermache Abbes Maamar, the secretary-general of the Algeirs port trade union, has said that opposition to the proposed deal with DPW was in the national interest and not only an issue of workers’ rights.
Maamar questioned the wisdom of “giving away” container activity, which generates 70% of the port’s receipts, in return for the proposed investments DPW has put on the table. The unions agree that Djen Djen is in need of an overhaul, but Maamar proposed that the government work with its port management authority Entreprise Portuaire d’Alger to develop the nation’s ports, rather than using foreign firms.
“We can do everything between Algerians: to buy gantries and all the equipment to improve the output. We cannot release sovereignty on the ports,” he added.
To break the current deadlock, it has been suggested that the unions should be involved in future privatization negotiations to ease the tension and distrust. However, it seems that the CNSPA is unlikely fully to embrace partial privatization to DPW. Meanwhile, private sector companies involved in trabendo activity at the ports are also against the deal. Many are believed to be involved in illegal practices which they fear the Emirati company might eliminate if the deal goes through.
