The president of the PSD/Matosinhos said this Monday, the 27th, that the "successive delays" in loading and unloading at the Port of Leixões in Matosinhos are the responsibility of the Administração dos Portos do Douro, Leixões e Viana do Castelo (APDL), PS/Porto and the Government
These problems, added to the truckers' strike last week, are "long known" and are the fault of the APDL, the PS/Porto federation and António Costa's government "for not nominating the best" for management positions, but those that ensure "their personal interests and future benefits".
"It is time for the Minister of Infrastructures and Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues [mayor of Gaia and PS/Porto] to understand each other and not compete in the nominations for APDL because, afterwards, they end up nominating a "boy" from the PS. We urgently need to solve this problem with concrete measures so that the North is not economically damaged", Bruno Pereira, also a councilman on the municipal executive, considered in a statement.
Justifying the statement, the social-democratic leader recalled that, in recent weeks, "much has been said about names, disagreements and methods used by the PS for the appointment of the chairman of the board of APDL" and stressed that it is "regrettable that the APDL has not yet put into practice measures of good management, since the carriers are still unhappy with the current system.
The average immobilization time of trucks is twice as long as usual, a situation "not very beneficial" for the Portuguese economy, he sustained.
On Wednesday, the road operators operating at the Port of Leixões failed to reach an agreement with the port administration about compensation for waiting times, having paralyzed their operations at the northern terminal, APDL confirmed on the occasion. Two days later, the protest platform for the inoperability of the Port of Leixões announced the end of the shutdown of several trucking companies.
To the Lusa news agency, a source from APDL said that a new system being implemented foresees "an increase in efficiency soon", but there is necessarily an adaptation period.
The district PS/Porto responded to Lusa, stating that the position of the PSD council/Matosinhos "makes no sense because the nominations are not made in the party headquarters.