Local authorities at Changshu in Jiangsu Province have ordered port operations stopped while they investigate the death of four workers while unloading cargo.

The stop work order has idled both Singaporean controlled Changshu Changjiang International Port (CCIP) where the fatalities occurred last weekend, and its sister port, the larger Changshu Xinghua Port Co (CXP).

The sister ports are upriver from Shanghai on the south bank of the Yangtze River opposite Nantong.

The ports' operator has informed investors that the investigation will continue until 13 April.

Both dry cargo ports are owned by Xinghua Port Holdings Ltd (XPH), which was spun off in Hong Kong late last year from Singapore listed parent Pan-United.

XPH officials referred a TradeWinds enquiry to an official at corporate parent Pan-United.

"The company is unable to comment any further as investigations are still ongoing," an XPH official responded.

Report to be submitted

According to a company announcement, XPH will submit a report on what steps the port will take to improve worker safety by 9 April, and is discussing with authorities the possibility of a partial re-opening "to minimise the impact of the suspennsion to the group's customers".

Owners with bulkers or multipurpose vessels currently at the port include Taiwan's Shih Wei Navigation and Sincere Industrial, Korea's Heung-A Shipping and P&F Marine, and China's Cosco Shipping Bulk.

Shih Wei's 11,600-dwt bulker Majestic Pescadores (built 2002) and P&F's 38,300-dwt bulker Octbreeze Island (built 2011) are believed to have arrived soon after the accident. Shih Wei officials could not be reached immediately because of Chinese holidays. P&F officials requested questions by e-mail and a response to a TradeWinds enquiry is pending.

Few details have been released of fatal accident that occurred last Saturday night at 10:20 pm at one of CCIP's berths during unloading operations.

"The group’s emergency personnel responded immediately and, together with the local government officials and authorities, rendered help to the injured. Unfortunately, the accident resulted in the death of four subcontractor workers who were working at the accident site," said XPH in an announcement to shareholders.

Task force established

XPH says it is setting up a task force to review safety systems and procedures "with the main objective to step up more stringent checks and better safeguards".

"The company is in the process of assessing the financial implication on the group caused by the accident," XPH added.

The twin Changshu ports are not among China's largest but they rank near the top for logs and for pulp and paper cargoes. In an investor prospectus XPH touts an expanding book of other breakbulk cargoes including steel products and project equipment.

With some 2.5 kilometres of berth length they can handle ships of up to 85,000 dwt and a deepwater draft of 13.3 metres.

Total throughput was 17.3m tonnes in 2016 and 8.5m tonnes in the first six months of last year.