Many important ports in Europe strike!
Recently, including the German port of Hamburg (Hamburg), Bremen (Bremerhaven) and the port of Bremerhaven (Bremerhaven), as well as a number of major ports in France have suffered or will suffer strikes, especially the French port or will face up to a month of chaos and disruption!
It is understood that all major French ports, particularly the container hubs of Le Havre and Marseille-Fos, are facing the threat of a month-long strike in the near future, which is expected to cause significant operational disruption and disruption.
Unions representing dockworkers and other port workers appear poised to carry out threats, planning several one-day strikes in June, as well as multiple stoppage work lasting four hours, to protest the French government’s pension reform that raises the legal retirement age.
On Friday, June 7, the first 24-hour strike broke out. In Le Havre, container terminals, ro-ro ships and bulk carriers were blocked by dockworkers, leading to the cancellation of scheduled stops for four ships and delays for 18 more.
Meanwhile, in Marseille-Fos, about 600 dockers and other port workers blocked the main entrance to the container terminal for trucks.
In addition, the French ports of Dunkirk, Rouen, Bordeaux and Nantes Saint-Nazaire were also affected. In Rouen, three ships and two barges were delayed.
Serge Coutouris, deputy general secretary of the CGT’s ports and terminals branch, said the government had underestimated the union’s ability to mobilise and warned it would now see solidarity in its demands. The union believes that the strike is a protest against French President Emmanuel Macron’s promise during his re-election campaign in 2022 that no extension of the retirement age will be applied to dockers and port workers.
The union plans to continue strike action in the coming weeks, including 24-hour strikes on June 13, 21 and 25, as well as four-hour strikes three days a week this month.
If the union fails to get a satisfactory answer from the government, the strike action could be extended into July.
The trade body, which represents road haulage companies and logistics providers, said there had been considerable disruption to their business, with delays of up to a week in obtaining orders at Le Havre and Marseille-Fos, for example, as well as additional costs due to the immobility of goods and the flow of logistics to other European ports.
In a joint press release, the French National Organisation for Transport and Transport (FNTR), the European Organisation for Transport and Transport (OTRE) and the Union of French Transport and Logistics Enterprises (TLF) said the port strike could not have come at a worse time.
“The container shipping business has only just begun to recover after a series of recent crises that put the very survival of many companies at risk,” the statement said.
It called on the government to take steps to support companies particularly affected by the strike and to lift restrictions on heavy goods vehicle traffic on future weekends.
Also on Friday (7), workers at the German port of Hamburg, a well-known container port in Northern Europe, launched a warning strike, causing terminal operations to be suspended.
The action was in response to the failure of negotiations between the trade union Verdi and the Central Association of German Seaport Employers (ZDS) in Wilhelmshaven. Verdi hopes to use the strike to put pressure on employers. About 11,000 workers are following the talks, 6,000 of them in Hamburg.
The terminals of companies such as the Hamburg Port and Logistics Company (HHLA) and Eurogate were affected as a result. HHLA said its Hamburg branches would join the strike, including the Burchardkai (CTB), Altenwerder (CTA) and Tollerort (CTT) container terminals.
An HHLA spokesman said the terminals would be almost completely closed.
A third round of talks will be held in Hamburg on June 17 and 18, with Verdi demanding retroactive wage increases and adjustments to shift bonuses to help low-wage groups cope with inflation.
