The Brazilian port of Santos faces a new wave of strikes as backroom financial auditors for the customs agency joins officers in the field that are already carrying out a nationwide strike impacting on ports airports and border crossings.
The strike caused major delays at the port and losses of $978, 800 according to Santos Ship Association or Sindamar. The back office financial auditors are joining their frontline colleagues in a campaign for a pay increase of around 10 percent and larger pension contributions from the government.
The delays have impacted operations at all six of the Santos container terminal which handled 3.8 million twenty foot equivalent unit last year. The backlog of container in the harbour is estimated at around 2,000.
“The time taken for the clearance process for export containers on both banks of the port has rapidly risen from three to four days before the strikes and now takes an average of 10 days , which in turn causes the loss of connections with ships, Executive President of Sindamar, Jose Rogue said.
The strike is compounding the problems the largest port in South America has wrestled with when dock workers union started series of strike action that were only resolved last month.
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