Steamship Mutual’s Club Correspondent in Colombia A&A Multiprime has warned that, following the government’s tax reform legislation, placed before Congress on April 15th, a national strike began on April 28th.
Even though this has brought about the resignation of the Minister of Finance and the withdrawal of the tax reform proposal, demonstrations and road blockades in several cities have continued.
On the Atlantic coast port operations had not yet been affected. However, road blockades and mobility restrictions has made access to the terminals difficult for Surveyors, especially in Barranquilla.
On the Pacific coast, particularly in the port of Buenaventura, the issue was more complex. Since the beginning of the strike, there had been several blockades on the road leading to Buenaventura that had almost completely blocked access to the city. A lack of transportation had delayed some unloading operations, especially of bulk carriers, as terminals were reaching storage capacity. Some provisions, food products, and fuel were already in short supply at Buenaventura.
A&A Multiprime said that, should the national strike continue, it was very likely that unloading operations around the country would come to an almost complete halt due to road blockades and the participation of transporters in the strike. It was also possible that various supplies, food products, and basic provisions would become limited and would not be made available to crews.
https://www.steamshipmutual.com/publications/Articles/national-strike-in-colombia052021.htm