Spain’s fresh produce sector may well have breathed a collective sighof relief after the country’s five-day transport strike finally beganto draw to a close.
According to Reuters, although 6 per cent of drivers are still onstrike, deliveries to Spanish wholesale markets have resumed afterpolice took action on Wednesday to clear motorways and border crossingswith France of picketing lorry drivers.
The news agency reported that large deliveries of fresh produce havebeen made to Madrid’s Mercamadrid food wholesale market, which haseased fears that supermarkets would run out of supplies.
Luis Alberto Carrillon, president of the Spanish fruit wholesalersassociation at Mercamadrid, told the Associated Press that freshproduce supplies were now at 60 per cent of their normal level, whichhe said was a big improvement from earlier in the week.
A similar truckers strike in neighbouring Portugal also came to endon Thursday after the country’s main transport union, Antram, reachedan agreement with the government.
Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero reportedlydispatched 25,000 police officers to clear the motorways of thestriking truckers, who were protesting at the high price of diesel.
The Spanish government has also eased some of the tensions bypromising lorry drivers tax breaks, although it has refused demands fora minimum haulage charge.
