Americas News
Argentine Ports Blocked by Strike
A 24-hour general strike called by Argentine workers is delaying shipments at all Parana River ports, Bloomberg News reports.
The strike, called to protest rising prices and gases, is keeping ships at port as immigration, customs, health, and port administration employees joined the strike, and workers also blocked highways and train, bus, and subway services.
"Main roads and highways going to the waterfronts are blocked," said Guillermo Wade, an official at the port exporters chamber.
"This is the first strike in the [President Cristina Fernandez de] Kirchner era affecting the whole shipment infrastructure."
Rosario, the country's largest soybean export port, saw about 300 trucks entering Wednesday, compared with an average of 2,900, according to the Rosario cereals exchange.
Another strike by health inspectors at the ports in August also disrupted soybean exports as an annual inflation rate of more than 20 percent spurred workers' demands for wage hikes, Reuters reported at the time.
