Maersk Line is diverting westbound services on the fronthaul from Asia – Europe from Algeciras to other Mediterranean during a strike by Spanish port workers in March.

Spanish dockworkers have called a strike during the odd hours of every second day between 6 – 25 March – a total of nine days. This will come on top of already reduced productivity at Spanish ports.

“These actions will cause a serious impact on cargo flows in and out of Spain and more widely to our global network, especially due to the strategic importance of the port of Algeciras as a major transhipment port for cargo moving to/out of Europe, Africa and many other destinations,” Maersk said in customer advisory.

In response the Danish line said westbound Asia – Europe and Middle East services would be diverted from Algeciras to other terminals in the Mediterranean where it had already secured capacity. “Transhipment connections will be made there for cargo destined for Africa, Mediterranean, North Europe and Latin America, based on our existing network and additional capacity deployed during the contingency,” it said.

Maersk said that for the time being eastbound traffic would continue to call at Algeciras and transshipment connections would be made at the port.

“We have also made special arrangements for Spanish import cargo taking into consideration various options available in the contexts of a port slowdown in Spain and consequent strike.”

Source: seatrade-maritime.com