Since the start of the road hauliers' strike last Monday, a total of 118 illegal pickets have been arrested as part of a massive operation in which more than 25,000 police officers have been taking part. The photo was taken at the entrance to the container park at Valencia port yesterday.

As the situation continues to improve, Interior minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, announced yesterday that normal traffic restrictions for heavy goods vehicles will be lifted this weekend in order to "achieve traffic and supply normalisation."

Representatives of the 12% Spanish hauliers still out on strike will join French and Italian colleagues in presenting their demands to the European Commission in Brussels later today.

Striking hauliers reject government's final offer
By: thinkSPAIN
Thursday, June 12, 2008

Development minister, Magdalena Álvarez, announced last night the end of negotiations with the transport sector after the majority of the associations comprising the National Road Transport Committee (CNTC) accepted a packet of measures to offset rising fuel costs.

However, the three associations that organised the strike - Fenadismer, Confedetrans and Antid - which represent around 12% of Spain's hauliers, refused to sign the agreement on the grounds that their demands for the establishment of minimum tariffs, have not been met.

A massive police operation ordered by the Interior ministry has succeeded in reopening the French border and clearing illegal pickets and their vehicles blocking major food distribution centres, refineries and motorways.

There were numerous violent clashes across the country yesterday involving police, hauliers, fishermen, or farmers, that resulted in an unconfirmed number of injured and more than sixty arrests.

Lorry driver badly injured in suspicious industrial estate blaze
By: thinkSPAIN
Wednesday, June 11, 2008 

A 43 year old lorry driver from Andalucía was seriously burned last night in what police believe may have been an intentional arson attack on the La Granadina industrial estate in San Isidro (Alicante).

Four lorries were destroyed in the blaze that also damaged a fifth vehicle.

According to local mayor, Fernando Morales, the incident occurred at around 4am this morning on the estate where around 300 wagons are parked up, prevented from leaving by a large crowd of militant pickets.

The injured man, who was sleeping in one of the trucks, escaped from his cabin unaided, but sustained second-degree burns to around 25% of his body - mainly to his chest and legs. He is recovering at the serious burns unit of Alicante General Hospital.

La Granadina is one of the most important food distribution centres in the whole of the Alicante province and houses major logistics centres owned by leading food retailers, Aldi and Mercadona.

Since the start of the hauliers' strike last Monday, around 200 pickets have been allowing lorries to enter, but not leave the site.

Picket death halts strike negotiations
By: thinkSPAIN
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

The news that Julio Cervilla Sojo, a 47 year old haulier from Albolote (Granada), had been run over and killed by a van driver while on picket duty at a roadblock in Atarfe (Granada), prompted Fenadisma representatives to walk out on negotiations with the government yesterday.

Nothwithstanding, a packet of 54 measures presented by the Development ministry to negotiators from the National Road Transport Committee (CNTC), which represents 82% of total Spanish hauliers, was generally well received. Negotiations resume at 10am this morning.

A demonstration in memory of Mr Sojo has been organised for midday today, and though the exact details have not been confirmed, it seems that it will begin at the spot where the incident occurred. The van driver responsible was arrested at the scene.

Mr Sojo, who was separated, leaves behind three daughters and a grand daughter. He had been working for around six weeks for Benito Sánchez, a self-employed transporter with just the one vehicle, who was also on picket duty.

Elsewhere, a young picket sustained injuries to one of his feet when he was run over by a Guardia Civil vehicle escorting a convoy of two petrol tankers in La Almarcha (Cuenca). Four pickets were arrested in Villarrapa (Zaragoza) for attacking a lorry driver, while five others have been charged over an altercation at the Las Granadinas industrial estate in San Isidro (Alicante). 

Hauliers' strike continues to cause chaos across Spain
By: thinkSPAIN
Tuesday, June 10, 2008

For the second day in a row, lorry drivers belonging to the Fenadismer hauliers' federation (that represents only around 15% of the total) have been causing serious problems across Spain as they continue to exert pressure on the government for subsidise to offset soaring fuel costs.

The most serious delays are once again being reported in and around the capital, where lorries are blocking the A-1, A-3, A-4, A-5 and A-6 freeways.

A man was arrested on the Basque French border during the early hours of last night for threatening a van driver with a screwdriver, and vandalising his victim's vehicle.

Both the Mercedes and Seat car factories in Vitoria and Martorell (Barcelona) have been brought to a standstill after running out of components while it is now impossible to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables in the provinces of Almería and Granada.

Toledo city-centre is grid-locked by a convoy of around thirty lorries clogging the main arteries into the provincial capital.

Filling stations in Madrid, Castilla León and Cataluña are beginning to run dry - mainly, it must be said, as a result of panic-buying by the public - forcing regional authorities to implement emergency measures to guarantee supply.

For example, around 20 tankers, escorted by police, filled up with fuel at Barcelona port this morning, and will spend the day supplying selected local filling stations.

Striking hauliers block roads all over Spain
By: thinkSPAIN
Monday, June 9, 2008

The road hauliers strike that officially began at midnight last night is causing serious traffic problems nationwide, particularly in and around Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga, Valencia, Navarra, Cantabria, Asturias, Valladolid, Cádiz and either side of the Basque and Catalan French borders.

Organisers, who are demanding government subsidies to offset rising fuel costs (+20% this year so far), warn that they are prepared to bring the country to a complete standstill.

Amid fears that the protest will cause a shortage at the pumps, and with lengthy tailbacks reported over the weekend at filling stations everywhere, Interior minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, has issued a statement this morning urging calm and insisting that the protest will affect neither fuel nor electricity supplies.

Spain's fishing fleets, many of which have been out since last week, coincide with the hauliers in the affirmation that it is not worth working since it now actually costs them money to do so.

If the fisherman's strike continues, it is feared that fresh fish supplies could start running short within a couple of days.

Despite initial failures to negotiate an end to the strike, a spokesman for the Development ministry remains optimistic that a solution will emerge from an emergency European Commission debate in Brussels next Wednesday.

Hauliers' fuel-price strike 'inevitable'
By: thinkSPAIN
Friday, June 6, 2008

Julio Villaescusa, the president of the National Federation of Spanish Transport Associations (Fenadismer), said yesterday that he thinks that it will be very difficult for a solution to be found to prevent the road haulier strike planned for next Monday.

Mr Villaescusa confirmed that negotiations with government representatives will continue today, but warned that "it's going to be very difficult for us to reach an agreement because the two sides are going in different directions." Adding that the positions of the hauliers and the government are still "miles apart," Mr Villaescusa said that "it's going to very, but very difficult" for a solution to be found.

Although several regions are already out on strike, the main protest will start at midnight, Monday June 9th, and will be supported with frontier roadblock protests jointly organised with French haulier associations.

Next Saturday, the hauliers have organised a protest demonstration outside the Development ministry in Madrid to demand from the government "an urgent solution to the very serious crisis facing the sector, which is threatening thousands of jobs."

Speaking at a meeting of regional transport bosses in Logroño, transport secretary, Juan Miguel Sánchez García, argued that the strike should be called off because "the negotiation process with the government will yield good results for everyone."

For their part, the Spanish Confederation of Hauliers (CETM), have confirmed that their members will not be joining the strike, preferring, intead, to continue working and negotiating.