Strike set to bring Belgian ports to a standstill


Another busy week for Felixstowe

A major provider of maritime services is warning its clients not to attempt to deliver cargo to ports in Belgium on Monday, as a nationwide strike is set to impact all ports and airports, with knock-on effects likely all week.

Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) said dockers, pilots, tugboat and lock operators would be involved, and that strike pickets would block access roads to ports.

ISS said it had been unofficially informed that port terminals would close from 6am on Monday to 6am on Tuesday.

Patrick Van Huffelen, General Manager at ISS Port Services, said: “We advise shipowners and operators not to attempt to deliver any cargo to Belgian ports on Monday, and we are warning that further disruption to schedules may continue into the week.

Public and private sector workers are striking because they claim their government has made it harder for them to retire early and has cut back on unemployment benefits, as part of an austerity budget aimed at bringing its deficit within the EU limit of 3% this year.

EU leaders are due to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss budget rules for governments and ways to stimulate growth in the crisis-hit continent.

As part of the strike, aircraft are also likely to be grounded at Brussels Airport, after pilots agreed to take part in the stoppages, trade unions said.

The country’s three main union groupings comprise the ABVV (socialist), ACV (Christian) and ACLVB (liberal).

A spokesman for the private sector union BBTK (affiliated to the ABVV) told IFW: “I think there will be very little activity at the ports.

“We are, like all Europeans, confronted with austerity programmes that only look to small shoulders and ask nothing of the broadest shoulders.

"There have been ample possibilities to negotiate but it’s clear that the government is not willing to negotiate, so we will go ahead with the strike.

Some 50,000 protesters took to the streets of Brussels last month to protest about the cuts.

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