Anti-austerity strikes disable ports in Spain, Portugal and Greece

STRIKES over austerity measures have hit Spanish, Portuguese and Greek ports, with pilots out in Algeciras, truckers out in Vigo and Valencia, dockers out in Lisbon, closing container terminals together with a general port-wide, three-hour strike in Greece, according to Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS).

Strikes have been organised by the CGTP union, but not officially by UGT, and sporadic trouble has been reported, though port authorities mostly continue to function normally, said the ISS report notice to customers.

In Portugal, Leixoes port is functioning as is Sines, but at Aveiro and Figueira da Foz stevedores have closed container terminals and depots, though port authorities were still working.

At Setubal and Margueira Lisnave Drydock, Portuguese stevedores were on strike and container terminals and depots also stopped work and port authorities were working half time.

In Spain, pilots worked half time, and while there were no picket lines, sporadic trouble was reported at different locations.

In Greece, a three-hour strike was staged between noon and 3pm when the ports came to a complete halt. Port users had plans in place to conduct operations before and after the three-hour stoppage.

"ISS will continue to monitor the situation and keep customers updated. Further updates will be posted on the ISS website www.iss-shipping.com ," said a company statement.