Almost a week has passed since members of Chile's Costanera Espigón Maritime Port Workers’ Federation (Fetraportces) started striking in the port of San Antonio, but it is understood these workers only represent a small percentage of cargo. Additionally, a blueberry industry body says less fruit has been going through the port in general. At www.freshfruitportal.com, we caught up with union president Diego Silva to find out more.

Union leaders took part in a meeting with port operators yesterday with the aim of putting an end to a strike that has been ongoing since Jan. 3, but both sides reached a stalemate after the first few points.

"We were getting together at 8:30am with the company to resolve the problem. Puerto Central (PCE) president Rodrigo Olea was present, as well as Muellaje Central manager Consuelo Cánavez," Silva said.

"For a half-hour we spoke about what had happened and then we started with the talking points. We began with the first point, the night bonus - which in four years has not been adjusted - and they said no, on that first point

Silva said that after not reaching an agreement on that or the second point, a decision was made to discontinue the meeting.

Other points on the worker' petition include addressing lunch break payments and collective bargaining negotiations which have been delayed.

He told www.freshfruitportal.com that Puerto Central was one of three private concessionaires in the port of San Antonio, moving 10% of its cargo with a specialization in breakbulk cargo.

Other concessionaries include Puerto Panul and San Antonio Terminal Internacional (STI) - the latter administers three dock fronts with 2,600 reefer connections that are responsible for most of the port's fruit exports.

STI clarified that its operations and client services - which it claims represent 75% of cargo and 100% of the containers that move through San Antonio - continue as normal.

Puerto Panul representatives also claimed their operations were business as usual.

However, Silva told www.freshfruitportal.com that "if two days pass by and there is no response, we would start to block the doors of the STI sector".

At the time of writing the union leader had not received any calls.

"When problems start to fall we will start to call on support from some ports to begin solidarity strikes," he said.

"We already have a leader that is taking a flight [Jan. 7 in the evening] north and we will send another leader south tomorrow [Jan. 8]."

Market intelligence and consultancy group Decofrut told www.freshfruitportal.com the strike had not so far affected fruit exports, while the Chilean Blueberry Committee said less fruit was passing through the port than in years past.

"It should be noted, though, that less fruit has passed through this port than in previous seasons and there are always alternative shipping options, which means the strike’s impact should not amount to much," the committee said in a newsletter.

Related story: Chilean fruit exporters worried about San Antonio port strike

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