Customers face lengthy delays in getting their goods after union bosses enforced an overtime ban at Hamilton Docks.The Bermuda Industrial Union has instructed about 40 dockworkers to stop putting in additional hours after contract negotiations collapsed.Workers are now only working 37.5-hour weeks and refusing to offload any shipping containers during evenings and weekends.It comes after the BIU and bosses at Stevedoring Services failed to reach an agreement on how to eradicate the “non-productive time” of workers due to the reduction in cargo volume.But fears are growing that the reduced working hours will lead to a backlog of containers waiting to be offloaded and stripped on the dock. The delays could even see ships setting sail with Bermuda freight still on board as they keep to their strict sailing schedules.Dockworkers are only working from 8am to midday and 1pm to 4.30pm from Monday to Friday. They formerly worked an extra seven to 11 hours per week, including weekday evenings until 10pm, Sunday afternoons and through their lunch breaks.Howard Pitcher, vice present of Bermuda Container Line’s commercial operations, said the overtime ban was going to have “a huge effect” on customers.He said: “We are absolutely expecting delays. It’s going to have the greatest of impacts and its just going to get worse as the backlog starts to build up.“We bring in absolutely everything, these ships are like giant grocery stores and it’s the residents who are going to be inconvenienced.“If one ship is still waiting to be offloaded, what’s going to happen if another comes in?”Mr Pitcher added: “We’re not part of the negotiations, it’s out of our hands, but for the sake of our customers we want to do all we can to keep to our usual schedules and keep disruption to a minimum.“A situation like this is unfortunate, but we will try to work with them.”BCL has e-mailed its customers to inform them of the situation, stating: “BCL is truly disappointed that this situation has degraded to this point especially at a time when the economy can least afford it.”The e-mail goes on to say: “Without overtime our operation, along with the other lines, will be greatly affected. This will have a knock on effect to our customers who are already reeling from the effects of this economic downturn.”The Bermuda Islander came in yesterday and Somers Isles is due to dock today, with two ships in two days expected to “start to cause problems”.But the impact of the overtime ban is expected to be really felt this weekend with the Oleander arriving on Sunday. Its containers will not start to be unloaded until Monday, a day later than usual.These three ships are bringing food supplies, building materials and new vehicles to Bermuda.Jan Brewer of AC Brewer Distributors said he was expecting delays with his two containers coming this week. He expects to get his frozen container in the afternoon rather than the morning, and says the other container will be at least 24 hours late.He said: “It’s a shame that the workforce and management aren’t able to work together to come to an agreement because a dispute like this will affect so many.”The collective agreement of the BIU port workers has been up for discussion since March. But the dispute began when about 25 workers were asked to come in just three or four day a week depending on the number of ships arriving.However, the workers declined this offer and Stevedoring Services suggested temporary layoffs as “a very last resort”.In response to the breakdown in negotiations, the BIU port workers division gave five days notice and began the overtime ban on Wednesday.BIU president Mr Furbert said negotiations had failed even though they had taken other proposals to the table, including a four-day week for all workers.He said: “I understand non-productive time is a huge concern for the employer, but they benefit from overtime work. The ships have to be able to keep to their schedule.“I know only too well how this will cause delays for retailers. The overtime ban is going to have a trickle-down effect. It’s going to cause some inconvenience.”Mr Furbert, who used to work at the docks himself, said the union’s relationship with bosses at the docks was “pretty poor,” adding they couldn’t go to arbitration as overtime was not guaranteed work.Peter Aldrich, general manager of Stevedoring Services said a reduced working week with a minimum of hours plus overtime had been offered to cut back on “the large amounts of non-productive time”. He explained without any ships docked, there was nothing else for the workers to do as they were not skilled in other areas.Mr Aldrich said: “Our proposal to them was a fair proposal. We are trying to reduce our expenses while guaranteeing employment for everyone.“This is all due to the decline in the economy as our business is volume based. We have to make savings and sacrifices need to be made by us all.“We are willing to shoulder some of the costs as long as the workers are too. Our goal has always been to keep everyone employed, temporary layoffs are not something we want to do, they are a last resort.”Mr Aldrich said the company had suffered a ten percent reduction in its workload per year for the last two years, and expected to suffer a similar reduction again this year.He said he understood the overtime ban was “a tactic being used” and stressed that delays would be kept to a minimum.Mr Aldrich added: “It is inconvenient but we hope we can still meet the expectations of the public.“We are still in the very early stages and talks are still ongoing. I’m hopeful that we will soon be back at the negotiating table.”