Uran, May 28 -- India's largest container gateway, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA), is staring at another logistics crisis starting Thursday, when transporters and trailer operators will commence an indefinite "stoppage of services" strike against "arbitrary" Lift-On Lift-Off (LOLO) or handling charges levied by Empty Container Yards (ECYs). "Transporters will no longer pay any LOLO charges or related fees imposed at Empty Container Yards for handling empty containers," 10 major transporter and trailer operator associations backing the agitation said in a "Notice to Trade" issued on Thursday. Repeated meetings over three years with various stakeholders, including the central government and JNPA authorities, had failed to resolve the crisis, the notice said. The JNPA handles nearly 50% of containerised cargo traffic among India's major ports, and nearly 20,000 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) of cargo is transported daily via road to different parts of the country. With yard occupancy at the port already hovering at 67%, and rail evacuation accounting for barely a tenth of its daily cargo movement, the agitation could trigger fresh congestion, export delays and supply-chain bottlenecks across western and northern India. At the centre of the dispute are LOLO charges levied by private ECYs for loading and unloading containers onto trailers. More than 70 ECYs and empty depots currently operate in and around the JNPA-Nhava Sheva area. "Transporters are forced to pay thousands merely to lift containers off trailers and place them in storage yards, despite having no role in the transaction," said Pravin Paithankar, president of the Container Transporters Association of Nhava Sheva-Maharashtra, one of the groups backing the stir. "The importer or exporter must bear these charges. Transporters should not be dragged into this transaction at all." Sunil Mulik, secretary of the Reefer Container Transporters Welfare Association, another association backing the strike, said the crisis deepened around one-and-a-half years ago, when empty depots started levying LOLO charges even for export container pickups. "It started with Rs.590 per container, which has now increased to Rs.1,100-1,200, sometimes even Rs.1,800. Why should transporters pay these charges? We have no contractual relationship with empty depots," Mulik said. Transporter Javed Mehmood alleged drivers faced prolonged delays at container yards while loading and unloading containers. "Drivers are made to wait 8-10 hours just to empty one container. Our turnaround time gets completely disrupted," Mehmood said. "The delays also worsen congestion outside the port and expose drivers to traffic penalties." Transport representatives also alleged that some ECY operators were recovering operational costs from transporters because shipping lines were not fully compensating them for container washing, cleaning and repair services. The agitation comes at a sensitive time for the JNPA, close on the heels of severe congestion for weeks due to an acute shortage of trailer drivers. Earlier this month, container backlogs at Container Freight Stations (CFSs) reportedly touched nearly 2,500 before reducing to around 450 after corrective measures and extended operations. As of Sunday, daily gate movement had recovered to around 18,196 TEUs, while import-CFS pendency was still estimated at over 40,000 TEUs. JNPA officials and representatives of empty container yard operators did not respond to queries from HT till the time of going to press....