Zara warns of delivery delays in Spain on truckers’ protest

Inditex SA, the world’s largest clothing retailer, said some deliveries in Spain may be delayed due to a week-long protest by truck drivers demanding lower fuel prices and better working conditions. 

Inditex is warning clients who buy products on its Zara website that shipments could suffer delays because of the protest, which has already disrupted supply chains of industries ranging from dairy to car manufacturing and supermarket chains. Carrefour SA, one of the largest supermarket operators in Spain, put signs up in some stores to notify customers about shortages of some goods. 

Discontent over soaring energy prices has become a major headache for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez as workers threaten action if his government doesn’t tackle rising costs right away. The administration has said it will announce emergency measures to reduce energy costs on March 29 after it agrees on a joint action plan with other European Union leaders this week. 

Fishermen across major ports went on strike on Monday to demand lower fuel prices while the country’s two biggest labor unions called for a street protest on Wednesday. Tens of thousands of farmers and cattle ranchers, some of them in tractors, marched through one of Madrid’s main avenues on Sunday to call for the government to protect agriculture and ease production costs, including fuel.

While Spain doesn’t have major commercial ties with Russia and Ukraine, the invasion has further boosted electricity costs, which had already pushed the country’s inflation rate to its highest in over three decades.

German carmaker Volkswagen AG will halt production on Monday at its plant in the northern Spanish region of Navarra as it lacks some of the components needed due to the protests, Europa Press reported on Friday.