The frequent strike of European ports affects the normal operation of the supply chain

Xinhua News Agency, London, August 29th (International Observation) European port strike frequently affects the normal operation of the supply chain

Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Zemin Wang Xiangjiang Zhu Sheng

Due to highly intensive inflation disputes, large -scale and long -term strikes have recently held large -scale and long -term strikes in many places in Europe to improve salary and working conditions. People in the industry said that the strike will exacerbate the congestion of the new crown epidemic, which will affect the normal operation of Europe and even the global supply chain.

High inflation caused the port strike

Since the beginning of this year, the level of European prices has continued to rise. In July, the inflation rate of the euro area was 8.9%at an annual rate, exceeding market expectations, and reached a record high.

Sarah Hiffin, a supply chain management expert of John Murce University in Liverpool, told Xinhua News Agency that the new crown epidemic and the chaos of the world's global supply chain pushed up prices. At the same time, the epidemic caused a shortage of labor in some parts of Europe, and employers were forced to pay higher salary to attract job seekers, leading to rising corporate costs and rising goods and services. In addition, since this year, Western sanctions on Russia have led to rising global energy prices, and European countries have been more dependent on Russia's energy, which has also increased the level of inflation.

The rise in prices has led to a relatively rapid decline in the actual income of the people, which has intensified the contradiction between labor and capital. More than 1,900 workers in the Port of Felixto, the largest container port in the UK, began 8 days of strike on August 21. Organizing the Fang British United Union stated that the salary increase proposed by the port operator could not keep up with the price increase.

In mid -August, more than 500 dock workers in Liverpool port in another major container port in the UK decided to hold a strike to seek salary increase and improve work conditions.

In mid -July, thousands of port workers in Germany held a 48 -hour strike, which severely disrupted the operation of multiple container hubs including Hamburg Port. The reason for the strike is that both workers cannot reach an agreement on how to help Hong Kong workers cope with the rising cost of living.

Strike affects the normal operation of the supply chain

Analysts pointed out that the frequent strikes may further disrupt the supply chain. Chris Rogers, a supply chain expert in the international freight agency business, recently wrote that due to the strike of the Port of Felix, the freighter can only go to other ports in the UK, and even go to the Dutch or French port. This may be significant. The industry that affects local relying on international supply chain, and even brings a chain reaction to the global logistics network.

Recent research released by data analysis company Russell Group shows that the strike operation of Felixto may affect US $ 800 million in trade, especially clothing and electronic component trade.

Christian Lelovs, co -founder of German Ai Shijie, who provides container trading platforms, said that earlier this year, due to high European inflation and workers seeking salary increases, many ports in northern Germany appeared on strikes. Logistics problems that occur around Europe this summer.

Strikes outside the port are expected to affect the supply chain. Recently, workers of the Dutch railway company began to strike. In this regard, the Dutch Railway Corporation has to reduce the train flights and reduce the running time of the train. It is expected that normal operations will not be resumed by December this year. If the workers are not able to reach a compromise in time, the workers will hold a national strike in September.

Negative impact continues to appear

Experts believe that even if the strike is over, the affected trade activities cannot be immediately recovered. Rogers said that even if the Port of Felixto operated at full load since then, it may take 24 days or even longer to deal with the accumulation pressure, and the time to transport the dotted container to the predetermined destination may take a few weeks.

Suji Bercy, general manager of Russell Group, said that due to the backlog of a large number of goods in the new crown epidemic, the global port is facing congestion, and the strike may lead to more delays, which will appear in the next few weeks to several months.

Hiffin said the time point for the strike is more critical, and many supply chains are preparing for the Christmas season. Extreme weather such as arid in Europe this summer has seriously affected the supply chain.

Lorovs said that once the port is not operated normally, it will have a significant impact on the efficiency of the container transportation network and bring a chain reaction to the upstream and downstream of the supply chain. Strikes in many European ports this year have caused great damage to logistics and manufacturing.

Johnes Schrink, co -founder of Ai Shijie Company, said that since the outbreak, many major European ports have the problem of efficiency. Sea transport container logistics and inland rebar, train and truck network it depended on it have been under pressure, and strikes will make these problems more difficult to solve.

[Editor in charge: Jiao Peng]

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