Fuel price strikes hit SA fish exports

A MAJOR protest strike against fuel prices last week by the Spanish and Portuguese trucking industries – which brought road transport to a halt, and partially-paralysed certain seaports and airports – has had a big impact on the export of fish from SA to the two southern European nations. “What we’re doing,” said one major forwarder in the perishable export industry, “is routing everything through the huge market in Madrid. “But the other areas are definitely affected. And, although we don’t know exactly what is going on, the strike is definitely affecting the big fish import centre of Zaragosa.” The strikes – involving tens of thousands of truck drivers – were launched in Spain and Portugal last Monday, with the demand that the governments help to cope with the rising price of fuel caused by rocketing oil prices. By Tuesday, violence had erupted, and two strikers were run over and killed at picket lines. The strike blocked roads, caused huge traffic jams, left supermarkets bare of fresh produce and some petrol stations without supplies. It also forced Spanish automotive factories to stop production as they ran out of component parts, and Lisbon airport in Portugal to bar planes from refuelling. Although Portuguese hauliers returned to work on Thursday when their government granted tax relief and reduced highway tolls for truckers, the Spanish truckers' strike continued – and many of the trucking routes around the country and out of Spain remained closed. And it’s not only SA fish caught in the net, but the chaos affected other SA trade with another part of southern Europe. According to Mike Walwyn, director of Saaff national and chairman of the Cape Town port liaison committee, he had imports coming in from the south of France, and these were also disrupted. “We were told that if we wanted the quickest way out we’d have to ship via the Belgian port of Antwerp,” he said. Strikes were also threatenedelsewhere in Europe. A proposed strike by 500 oil truck drivers in the UK – which it was reported would have left about 10% of the country’s petrol stations dry - was averted in a Thursday meeting between unions and transport management. And, although truckers in the Netherlands didn’t park off in a strike, they put the brakes on large sections of the country’s road system – blocking the roads at 18 points throughout the country for about half an hour by driving at 50-kilometres-per-hour, and causing a reported 100-kilometres of traffic jams.