April 7, 2008

Brazil's Paranagua hit by grain port delays

Brazil's main grain port of Paranagua has been hit by industrial actions of stevedores and port workers, with a line of trucks carrying soy and corn backing out of the port for several kilometers.

Brazil's main southern ports are in the midst of shipping early cargoes from the record soy and corn harvests.

Delays will raise demurrage costs and worsen a backlog in the lengthy shipping line-up.

Shipping agent Cargonave said in a statement that stevedores were working to rule a Paranagua, hampering all operations at commercial berths which included the export corridor Bunge, Soceppar and Pasa.

The agent reported that power had been turned off at the public export corridor and all berths were completely paralysed.

Meanwhile, Brazil's port workers' union announced recently that it is planning a 24-hour strike across several ports for April 14 to protest at the use of non-unionised labour at a terminal at Itajai port, Victor Manuel Simoes Pinto at Cargonave informed.

For a week now, customs agents at Brazilian ports have been on strike, yet they did not impede the flow of grain exports from Brazil's ports.