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Containers piled up at Busan, South Korea's major port, and cargo loading and unloading at the smaller port of Gunsan was suspended while container traffic dropped 20 percent at Pyeongtaek Port as 4,000 truckers stopped moving containers ahead of a general strike.
Around 4,000 trucks have frozen transport in Pohang, Gwangju, Daegu, Busan as well as parts of North Gyeongsang Province, North Jeolla Province and South Chungcheong Province.
Gunsan is in North Jeolla Province and Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi.
The Busan Port Authority is taking steps to counter the strike. BPA has decided to secure four contingent yards around Busan Port to ease cargo congestion and has asked the operators to vacate overdue containers from their yard and check how much their yards are filled twice a day.
BPA also plans to use military container carriers through consultation with relevant government agencies. In case of prolonged strike, BPA is expected to employ stronger measures such as expansion of coastal transportation and permission for yard vehicle to carry containers outside ports.
The union is urging the government to lower gasoline prices, raise transport fees and introduce minimum transport rates. It said the government's latest steps to alleviate the rise in oil price hikes are insufficient to help them cover their losses.
The government last week said it would shoulder 50 percent of the increase in oil prices for truckers and bus drivers as part of a US$10 billion tax rebate and subsidy package to help people cope with surging energy costs.
CargonewsAsia
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