Lorry drivers jam Spain as fuel protest bites

Slow-moving lorries blocked roads across Spain today as drivers continued their protest strike over rising fuel costs.

Their action has disrupted supplies of food, fuel and other goods.

Three car factories – Nissan, Mercedes Benz and SEAT – said they were suspending manufacture for lack of spare parts.

Meanwhile some service stations in Madrid and the north-eastern Catalonia region ran out of fuel.

Stallholders warned of possible shortages in fruit, vegetables and meat this week at Madrid’s sprawling wholesale market, Mercamadrid, if the strike continues.

Fishermen also have been on strike since May 30 in protest at rising fuel costs, which have especially hurt Spain’s independent or self-employed contractors amid an overall economic slowdown.

Mercamadrid today took in 10 lorry loads of fish, compared with 90 on a normal day, said Manuel Pablos, president of an association of fish merchants.

The combination of the two strikes “is making these days very grim,” he said.

Traffic to and from Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Alicante and other cities was backed up behind trucks creeping slowly forward.

Trucks also blocked the Junquera border crossing with France for a second day, allowing only cars through.

The government dropped charging on three toll roads to ease access to Madrid.

The striking drivers are demanding minimum, guaranteed haulage rates to offset rising fuel prices and enable them to compete with large companies.

The government met their representatives, but it has said that setting guaranteed rates would violate the principle of free market competition.

The strike is the most serious that has faced Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero since he came to power in March 2004.

Spain’s economy has slowed after a decade-long boom in the property sector came to a halt. The government in April lowered its 2008 economic growth forecast to 2.3 percent, from its previous estimate of 3.1 percent.

Meanwhile a similar protest was taking place in Hong Kong, with lorry drivers in a go-slow strike disrupting traffic over fuel costs. About 300 marched to Hong Kong’s government headquarters and demanded that fuel taxes be slashed.