On 9 February 2006, the private cargo workers of the Visakhapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh took out a massive rally demanding wages at par with the permanent workers of the Dock Labour Board. The rally began from the Port main gate and concluded with a dharna in front of the Port Administrative Office Building where the Port Trust Board Meeting was taking place. Supporting the cause of the protestors, the regular workers of the Dock Labour Board, at Visakhapatnam harbour, stopped booking their duties for an hour and joined the rally.

The private cargo handlers` campaign for parity of welfare and other benefits with workers at the Dock Labour Board was initiated three years ago. On 19 October 2004, as a mark of protest, they had demonstrated in the port and held a sit-in outside Karmika Jyothi Bhavan in support of their claims. In spite of their continued efforts, they did not achieve much. To pressurise the management with the same demand, the workers had staged a dharna in front of the port office on 31 January 2006.

The private cargo handlers perform almost the same duties as that of the regular workers. Besides demand for wages at par with the Dock Labour Board, the protestors were also demanding better welfare conditions, the effective functioning of cargo handling as in other ports in the country and the utilisation of the levy amount transferred by the Dock Labour Board. According to the workers, the management was misusing the levy amount. The workers have threatened to intensify their agitation if their demands were not met immediately.

For the last six years, Visakhapatnam maintains its prime position among the major ports in the country. The port established a national record by handling 55.01 lakh tonnes of cargo during December 2005. It also has several other records in the handling of limonite sand, timber, muriate of potash, coking coal and steaming coal.