Archive for the ‘fuel costs troubles worldwide’ Category

TRUCKERS’ PROTEST & STRIKES * WORLDWIDE

posted by admin on Jun 10

* Europe & Asia - Truckers in fuel protest

Madrid,Spain -The Gulf Daily News -9 June 2008: -- Tens of thousands of truckers in Spain, France and Portugal yesterday stepped up protests against rising fuel prices, causing mayhem on highways and blocking border crossings... Spanish and Portuguese drivers began indefinite strikes, and lines of trucks up to 8km long formed on the French side of the border after Spanish picketers smashed the windscreens of foreign goods drivers who tried to enter Spain... French and Spanish truckers also staged 'go-slow' protests, causing tailbacks of 30km in Bordeaux, France, and 20km or more around Madrid and Barcelona... Meanwhile, three main unions demonstrate in the eastern city of Liege to protest against the rising cost of living and the fall in workers' purchasing power, Belgian news agency Belga said... Separately, Indian police use water canon and batons in Kashmir to disperse hundreds of government employees who gathered outside the office of the state's chief minister in Srinigar... A four-day strike called by private transport operators demanding an increase in passenger fares and freight charges also force thousands of people to walk to work... More than 20 Indonesian students to protest against rising fuel prices, which increased by 30 per cent last month... (Photo News VOA: Spanish truck drivers block traffic on Spanish border with France in Behobia, northern Spain, 9 June 2008)


* France - Struggling with high fuel costs staged fresh protests near the Spanish border

French fishermen end strike in the Mediterranean

Marseille,France -AFP -9 June 2008: -- ... French truckers struggling with high fuel costs staged fresh protests near the Spanish border and in the southwest, demanding government action to stem the price hike... About 15 trucks from the southern city of Perpignan disrupted traffic at several border posts and preventing trucks from crossing, causing a tailback of some 10 kilometres (six miles) on both sides of the border... Some 200 long-haul trucks were to converge on the four main motorways leading into Bordeaux early Monday, drive around the ring road before heading into the southwest city, said Jean-Pierre Morlin, president of the European trucking organisation for the Aquitaine region... "We are demanding immediate measures" to counter the impact of high fuel prices, said Morlin... The French truckers' action "is aimed at protesting the price of fuel and to make authorities aware of the need to harmonize the price of diesel in Europe," said Roland Bacou, head of a national trucking union for the Languedoc-Roussillon region... Fleets in France's biggest fishing port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais and Dunkirk last week called off their strike pending the outcome of the talks in Brussels...


* S Korea - Truckers to launch strike over soaring fuel prices

Seoul,S.Korea -Xinhua (China) -June 9, 2008: -- A union of South Korean truckers voted Monday to launch a strike this week to protest the soaring fuel prices, triggering concerns that the country's transport system might be paralyzed... The Korea Cargo Transport Workers Union said 90.8 percent of its 13,000 members endorsed the strike in the vote... "We plan to hold further negotiations with the government and cargo owners until Thursday, and if the negotiations fail, it will engage in industrial action the next day," the union's leader Kim Dal-shik told a press conference... Monday's vote came on the heels of the government's announcement on Sunday that it will spend over 10 trillion won (9.77 billion U.S. dollars) over the next year as part of a comprehensive policy package meant to help citizens deal with the record-breaking crude oil prices... (Photo: Yonhap/The Korea Times - Unionized car transport drivers hold a sit-in rally before a walkout, calling for the raising of transportation fees amid soaring oil prices, in front of Busan Economic Promotion Agency, Busan, Monday. Truckers and bus operators also plan to go on strike this week)


* South Korea - Gov't to use military, non-union vehicles to cope with possible trucker strike

Seoul,S.Korea -Yonhap/chinaview-Xinhua -June 10, 2008: -- The government said Tuesday that it will use military and non-union vehicles to prevent possible serious delays in overland freight traffic if truckers go on strike later in the week... They agreed that in addition to military and non-union trucks, smaller-sized private vehicles will be given permission to handle commercial cargo... Only 3-4 percent of all commercial vehicles are union vehicles, but because many of the union's members drive large container-hauling trucks, a strike could seriously affect the country's ability to haul freight by road... The union threatened to go on strike starting Friday unless the government lowers diesel fuel costs, raises fees for hauling freight to reflect market conditions and introduces a standardized pricing system for truckers that can ensure minimum wages for services rendered... Tags: , , , ,

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COMMENT: FUEL COST * WORLDWIDE - High Oil Killing China Labor Advantage

posted by admin on Jun 5

*What goes around, comes around

WIS,USA -Destinys Choice - America Is, by The Slickster! -4 June 2008: -- Chinese labor is cheap, but high oil — perversely, the direct result of quick Chinese growth — is now killing the Asian giant’s manufacturing cost advantage... The cost of transporting heavy cargo over long distances will become so expensive it will completely erode China's low-wage economic advantage, says a key analyst. That could provide incentives to produce more goods at home... “Exploding transport costs may soon remove the single most important brake on inflation over the last decade — wage arbitrage with China,” CIBC World Markets Chief Economist Jeff Rubin told... “The cost of moving goods, not the cost of tariffs, is the largest barrier to global trade today”... Indeed, oil price rises have already driven up shipping costs so much that Chinese imports are now high-cost and losing market share, a new CIBC research report shows... The cost of shipping a 40-foot container from Shanghai to the U. S. eastern seaboard has quadrupled to $8,000 on high crude prices... If oil reaches $200 a barrel it will double again, increasing the impact on entire global trade for goods that carry high freight costs... “If that container is filled with diamonds, it doesn’t matter,” Rubin says. “But for mass-manufactured products it means that a lot of those jobs may be coming home”... Freight-sensitive Chinese exports to the U.S. now account for 42 percent of total exports, down from 52 percent in 2004... Rubin estimates that were it not for the dramatic increase in transport costs, growth in Chinese exports to the U.S. since 2004 would have been 35 percent stronger than the actual tally... Even domestic transport costs are becoming a tough uphill battle — according to YRC Worldwide Chairman and CEO Bill Zollars. About 70 percent of goods moved in the U.S. are moved by truck, and the 800,000 customers Zollars’ company serves include major players like Home Depot and Wal-Mart, which he says gives him a good overall view of the U.S. economy... “It’s interesting that the biggest impact (Washington) thought it could have was yelling at the guys who are making money,” Zollars told CNBC... Tags: ,

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