Truckers’ Strike Halts Exports from Spain’s Valencia Port

The ongoing truckers’ strike in Spain has partially stopped exports from the Port of Valencia and increased congestion significantly in the area, according to an advisory from shipping company Maersk and data calculated by Bloomberg.

As of March 26, terminals at the port, Europe’s fifth-largest container hub, have only been admitting trucks to pick up containers for import or empty containers, according to the note. The queue of vessels outside Valencia reached 30 on Monday, the highest total since Bloomberg started tracking the data in the second quarter of 2021, two and a half times the median count of vessels normally operating at the port.

The hub is now gradually managing to reduce disruptions that have pushed the terminal to the brink of collapse, according to deputy director Nestor Martinez.

Bad weather “luckily” prompted its closing on previous days, preventing ships from unloading containers that could not have left the port because of the protest, said Martinez. The terminal “could have collapsed” had good weather conditions allowed ships to carry out operations, as usual, he said.

The port authorities set up a contingency plan to stop the entrance of export containers in order to resume normal operations. The terminal needs at least 80% of trucks to operate before being able to estimate how long will it take to go back to normal, said Martinez.

Nearly three-quarters of the 13.7 million tons of goods transiting the port in the first two months of the year have been through containers, according to the port’s website.