Views: 10 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2022-06-24 Origin: Site
Faced with soaring prices, oil prices and high inflation, British rail system workers decided to go on strike on June 21, 23 and 25 in an effort to improve working conditions. It was also the largest rail strike in 30 years.
According to reports, rail services are expected to be severely affected for the week. Railway companies have also introduced timetables for emergency services, but they can only maintain about one-fifth of the frequency. Train operations in some rural areas will be severely affected due to the strike by signal workers.
British media said that the strike was caused by disputes between labor and management over wage increases. The unions demanded a 7% pay rise, but the railway company said it could only raise 3%. British Rail, Maritime and Transport unions have threatened that the rail strike could last for six months.
The head of the union said many people had not received a "proper" wage increase since 2010. He also said that many parts of the United Kingdom lack the corresponding power, organizational capacity and sufficient funds to deal with employers' continued low wages, so the British working class is getting poorer year by year, and the rich are getting richer.
Regarding the impact of the strike on transportation, Maersk recently announced that it is in close communication with British rail freight operators, hoping to minimize the impact of the strike on Maersk's inland operations in the UK.
In the absence of strike action, Maersk's rail operations in the UK inland will operate as normal, according to the announcement. On strike days, while many of the company's shifts will be canceled, some will continue to operate to keep cargo moving.
Maersk also reminded customers that there is a risk of unplanned disruption to UK rail transport as a result of the strike.
Under inflationary pressure, not only British railway workers, but also many more unions are taking strikes:
The "Road Transport Defense Platform" of Spain's small and medium-sized transport truck drivers and self-employed transport drivers will hold a meeting on June 26 to decide whether to continue the strike.
The previous nationwide strike by small and medium-sized truck drivers in protest against rising oil prices lasted for a month, leading to a supply shortage crisis in Spain.
Port workers at Germany's five largest ports launched a four-hour "warning strike" during the night shift in solidarity with the ongoing labor negotiations between the dock unions and port operators! The situation has become more dire in recent days when the first round of negotiations between the union and the port operator ended in failure.
Many unions in Belgium are planning another nationwide strike, demanding higher wages, greater dialogue and public sector investment.
While strikes are raging in Europe, there is a growing backlog of undelivered cargo at the Port of Rotterdam. This is forcing shipping companies to prioritize shipping containers with full loads, resulting in empty containers, which are vital for Asian exporters, being trapped in large numbers in this export hub.
The Port of Rotterdam says that yard density at the Port of Rotterdam has been very high over the past few months due to ocean-going vessel schedules that are no longer on time and longer dwell times for imported containers. This situation has resulted in the terminal having to move empty containers to warehouses in some cases to reduce congestion in the yard.
Although the current situation in China has improved significantly, the shortage of ships and delays at European ports have forced European export cargo to compete with empty containers destined for China, potentially causing further disruptions to Asia-Europe routes.
Many logistics companies say that factories in China will need a large number of empty containers to make up for delayed or unfilled orders over the past few months, which are being hampered by a shortage of ships and containers.
According to FourKites, truck container shipments from China's neighboring provinces into Shanghai have now recovered to 71 percent of the level before the current round of COVID-19 broke out.
Although rail transport used to share the pressure of congestion faced by ports, the recent outbreak of epidemics and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict have also caused many companies to avoid land transport. Meanwhile, the recent strike movement in Europe has exacerbated the logistics dilemma.
Maersk has also recently warned that its service network is "under severe pressure", which the company blamed on "disruptions in European port operations". Maersk said, "Our vessels are experiencing significant delays in Northern Europe, which is affecting the return schedule to Asia Pacific."
Maersk said bottlenecks in the Asia-North Europe network were causing delays in service. In order to coordinate network deployment across the market and improve schedule visibility - Maersk has made the following schedule adjustments.
Kuehne+Nagel said the situation means longer waiting times for ships in all major Nordic ports. About 60 percent of vessels from Europe to Asia suffered delays in April and May this year, and as of June 17, there were 13 vessels waiting for berths outside the Port of Rotterdam.
With a double whammy of overflowing yard terminals on one side and dock/rail/transport workers preparing to strike in protest over pay packages, vessel schedules and delivery times may be further delayed.
