23 ports were paralyzed! Port workers in the South American country go on strike!
Recently, strikes have occurred in many ports around the world, which will affect the transportation of goods.
23 ports on strike in Chile
Recently, in Chile, in South America, about 6,500 workers in the Union Portuaria at 23 ports launched a 48-hour strike, demanding an agreement with the government to improve working conditions. Workers protested the lack of progress in contract negotiations with the Chilean government. Among other things, they are pushing to modernize port regulations. The ports of Antofagasta, San Antonio, Iquique, and San Vicente are likely to be most affected by the shutdown, according to security company GardaWorld. In addition, this company believes that the ports of Arica, Coquimbo, and Valparaiso are the least affected.
According to media reports, there have been “serious traffic disruptions” around the Port of San Antonio, after demonstrators earlier blocked Avenida Barros Luco and Calle Sanfuentes with burning debris traffic. The government will deploy security to monitor the strike and possibly disperse damaging events. Clashes are possible between protesters and police. It is reported that during the strike, transportation, commerce, and port operations across Chile will be disrupted. Relevant people raised an early warning: In order to avoid strikes and protests, please act cautiously, check the road conditions in advance when entering and leaving the port, especially the road conditions near the port, and follow the instructions of local officials. People should make different interruptions as early as possible to face various unexpected situations.
Third strike at Liverpool ports
In addition, strikes at British ports are not over yet. It is said that Liverpool, the UK’s second largest port, will hold a third general strike. Almost 600 workers at the Port of Liverpool’s container operations will go on strike for two weeks from October 24 to November 7 after wage discussions broke down after the Port of Liverpool’s owner Peel Ports claimed the Unite union rejected an 11% payment offer .
The union said: “Workers have been facing a ‘threat of employment since the strike began on September 19. Inflation in the UK is currently as high as 12.3%, but the Port of Liverpool operator is only giving us an 8.2% pay rise, which means that Wages are down.” The union further said Peel Ports Group had agreed to an 11 percent pay rise for its workers at Camel Laird. The unions, therefore, demanded that Peel Ports Group should offer similar treatment to dockworkers at the Port of Liverpool. The general secretary of the union said: “Peel Ports Group is very profitable and is fully capable of paying workers an appropriate wage increase.” The union said the workers in Port Liverpool stood firm and the union would give them their full support. “Peel Ports Group must come up with a wage increase that the workers can accept or the strike will continue.”
It is said that from September 19th to October 3rd, the port workers of the Port of Liverpool broke out for the first time when the conditions of the United Kingdom’s United Union’s request for port operators to raise wages according to the current inflation rate (12.3%) were not met. From October 11th to October 17th, also because of salary reasons, the second round of strikes broke out in the Port of Liverpool port workers. The Port of Liverpool is an important port for importing into Europe. Such frequent strike actions will inevitably have a great impact on the loading, unloading, and transshipment of containers at the port, and will bring very unstable factors to the timeliness of the British shipping line and even the European shipping line. In addition, the United Union of the United Kingdom recently said that there was a possibility of the third round of strikes in Felixstowe Port. If labor disputes are not properly resolved, strikes will continue for some time to come, ports in the UK and even Europe will be congested, and supply chain tensions will be further intensified.
Finally, I reminded you that if there are freight forwarders and shippers who have shipped to the above countries in the near future, please arrange the shipment plan reasonably and pay attention to the impact of delays. Under the circumstance that global inflation is relatively high, the import and export of many countries and regions will be affected by the strike at the ports. The shipper should pay attention to all aspects of the news in a timely manner, and can give other solutions at any time. Only in this way, shippers’ goods can arrive at their destination in a relatively controllable manner. Whenever there are some problems in one of the total processes, it will make the entire transportation cycle long. Thereby it can increase the risk and reduce the benefit of the shipper. This is not an optimal situation in the long run and should be resolved as soon as possible.
