What a mess! General strikes broke out at ports in many countries! Logistics is blocked and goods are backlogged!

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Last week, port workers at the Port of Hamburg in Germany went on strike, disrupting operations at all Hamburg terminals and causing major delays in cargo and cargo operations. Now, Colombia is also facing the impact of strikes; the threat of strikes at ports in the East United States is also "getting closer"...

Recently, unions that threatened to go on strike at ports in the eastern United States and the Gulf Coast from October 1 have once again expressed a tough stance on wage negotiations. The time is approaching for a potential massive supply chain disruption for global container shipping.

Contract talks between the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the port operator have broken down. The current agreement, which expires on September 30, covers about 45,000 longshore workers at six of the 10 busiest U.S. ports.

"The union will definitely take to the streets on October 1," union president Harold Daggett warned in a video uploaded to the union's website yesterday. The union has begun holding wage scale meetings to review their contract demands.

Daggett reiterated that U.S. Eastern and Gulf CoastBan on requirements for automated or semi-automated terminals, and suggested the union would try to get colleagues on the West Coast to join strike action.

In a recent North American market update to customers, Maersk warned that the contract between USMX and ILA will expire on September 30, raising concerns about potential disruptions at ports in the Gulf of Mexico and East Coast. On August 22, 2024, USMX received the notice from the ILA and submitted a mediation agency notification to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) on August 19.

In response, USMX also submitted on August 22nd. The purpose of these notices is to notify FMCS of the dispute between the parties and not to request or agree to mediation. Due to the "no strike" clause currently in force, no strike action is expected before October 1.

However, if the contract is not finalized, the possibility of a strike remains, which could lead to wider disruption. Even brief outages can take weeks to fully resolve, leading to massive backlogs and delays.

Sea-Intelligence estimates that for every day of strike, it is likely to take at least four to five days to "clean up" and return to normal. Data shows that a one-week strike on October 1 will cause severe congestion problems until mid-November, while a two-week strike will mean that the port will not resume normal operations until 2025.

At the same time, according to Colombian media reports, Colombia is also facing the impact of the strike.

Roads in many parts of Colombia were blocked. The blockade was initiated by truck drivers on September 2 to protest the government's decision to phase out fuel subsidies and increase the price of diesel by 1,904 pesos per gallon.

At present, the protests are intensifying. As truck drivers block roads and the scale of road closure protests continues to expand, transportation and logistics across Colombia are severely disrupted.

Due to truck driver shortages and road blockades, local sources said there is currently a backlog of cargo at ports and airports, which may pose major challenges to these facilities.

With the current intensification of protests, the situation may become more serious, posing major challenges to multiple industries. According to local sources, 136 road closures have been reported across the country.

The diesel price increase decree aroused opposition from automobile-related workers. A small number of workers began to hold demonstrations, and then began to implement road blockades in the capital Bogota. At that time, it had already caused a certain impact.

Due to the bad impact, the President of Colombia immediately held a meeting of the Security Council at the Casa de Nariño to discuss the issue of truck drivers blocking the road and striking. After the meeting,The home minister issued a notice to the transporters' union saying "the government's concessions have reached their limits".

He also called on truck drivers to demonstrate peacefully and not to affect the normal travel of people and businesses. He also added that many price increases will take effect immediately, but will take effect gradually within four months. The government is willing to engage in dialogue. And are preparing to take measures against the initiators of the road closure protests.

At present, demonstrations and road closures are continuing, and the government has no plans to cancel the diesel price increase decree and plans to take measures, which may aggravate the dissatisfaction of truck drivers and lead to more serious conflicts.

In addition, major cities such as Bogota, Medellin and Cali are also facing the threat of food and fuel supply shortages.

This protest also affected the daily life of Colombian people. Schools and universities in Bogota have been closed and public transportation has been severely disrupted.

While negotiations between the government and the transport unions are still ongoing, the strike is expected to continue until an agreement is reached. Analysts believe that if the protests continue, Colombia’s logistics costs may also rise.