Saturday, October 31, 2026
The news that moves freight
Geopolitics Oct 31, 2026 · 6 min read

Dock strike hits 113 ports in 22 countries

One day, 113 ports: the walkout has ended, the knock-on delays have not

On Friday 30 October, dockworkers stopped work at 113 ports in 22 countries, Reuters reported. More than 25 unions backed the action. It was first called in Italy, France, Greece, Spain’s Basque Country, Turkey and Morocco, and spread from there. The workers were protesting the use of their ports for arms shipments and the deaths of seafarers in wars from the Gulf to the Black Sea. They also asked for pay rises, better conditions and doctors on ships crossing war zones.

Our view is simple. The strike lasted one day. The disruption to schedules will last most of next week. And the most important thing that happened on Friday was not in a port at all. It was in Rome, where a union told the government it would defy its order and accept the fines.

What stopped, and where

The picture is clearest in Greece and France.

In Piraeus, cargo operations were disrupted and ferry services to the Greek islands were suspended, according to Reuters. About 3,000 dockworkers and seafarers joined the walkout there. Apostolos Kypraios, head of the Greek union of merchant marine engineers, told Reuters: “We will not work for their wars, and we will not become food for their cannons.” George Gogos, head of the Piraeus dockworkers’ union, pointed to the rising cost of essentials and energy.

In France, about 14,000 port workers, including 7,500 dockers, struck at 24 ports, the World Socialist Web Site reported. The list ran from Dunkirk, Le Havre and Rouen to Marseille, Fos-sur-Mer and La Réunion. At Le Havre, local CGT official François Brisot said: “There is neither loading nor unloading.”

Spain ran a lighter version. Two-hour stoppages, from 1pm to 3pm, were called at 16 ports, the same report said. They included Algeciras, Valencia, Barcelona, Bilbao and Vigo. Two hours sounds small. But Algeciras and Valencia are big transhipment hubs, where boxes are moved from one ship to another. A two-hour gap in the middle of a working day can push a vessel past its berth window.

In Italy, dockers struck at ports including Genoa, Livorno, Trieste, Civitavecchia, Ancona, Ravenna, Gioia Tauro, Carrara and Bari. Gioia Tauro is Italy’s main transhipment port. Genoa is its main gateway for the north.

Outside Europe, about 5,000 dockworkers demonstrated at major Indian ports, the World Socialist Web Site reported, with about 500 each at Mumbai and Kochi and 200 at Tuticorin. The action covered Nhava Sheva, India’s largest container port. Al Jazeera reported 24-hour strikes in France, Italy, India, Greece and Turkiye, and stoppages of up to two hours in Morocco, Cyprus and elsewhere.

The organisers, a group called No Harbour for Genocide, said the protest would halt about 52,000 containers and snarl cargo worth $2.8bn. Reuters said it was not able to independently verify the impact. We treat it as a claim, not a measurement.

Rome said stop. The union said no

On 27 October, Italy’s transport ministry ordered the strike moved to another date, according to an ANSA report carried by L’Adige. The order covered air, rail, maritime and local transport, taxis and road traffic. The ministry cited a no-strike window linked to the commemoration of the dead in early November. In Italy this kind of order is called a “precettazione”, a government instruction that limits or delays a strike in essential services.

USB, the grassroots union behind the Italian action, refused. It called the ministry’s move “a wrong and illegitimate order, which we disobey,” in the English translation quoted by the World Socialist Web Site. ANSA reported that USB confirmed the strike for the whole day in the sectors named in the order. It said it would accept the sanctions, which it described as very heavy, because it believes they are illegitimate.

This is why we think the Italian piece matters most. A strike that a union calls off under pressure is a one-off. A strike that goes ahead against a direct government order, with the union saying it will pay, tells you that the usual brakes on Italian port labour are not working. Forwarders should price that in.

Francesco Staccioli of USB told Al Jazeera: “It’s bigger than we thought.” He said the movement had spread worldwide.

What happened last time

This is not the first time this year that Italian ports have stopped over arms shipments. Marine Insight reported a USB-backed strike in early February 2026 that hit Livorno, Venice, Genoa, La Spezia, Ravenna and Trieste. In La Spezia, the union reported a 78 percent stoppage in port operations. Genoa’s container and ro-ro (roll-on, roll-off, for vehicles and trailers) terminals were blocked, causing road and rail congestion.

The ship moves that followed are the useful part for forwarders. According to Marine Insight, the Zim Virginia could not dock at Livorno’s Terminal Darsena Toscana. The Zim New Zealand stayed at Fos-sur-Mer in France instead of calling at Genoa. The Zim Australia stayed at anchor off Koper in Slovenia despite scheduled calls at Venice and Ravenna. The MSC Eagle III postponed calls at Ravenna and Venice and headed to Koper.

In other words, last time carriers did not wait. They skipped Italian calls and moved cargo through Koper and Fos. That is the playbook we expect again, on a wider scale, because this time French, Greek and Spanish ports were out on the same day. Diverting from Genoa to Fos does not help when Fos is also on strike.

Why one day turns into a week

Container shipping runs on fixed berth windows. A ship that misses its slot at one port arrives late at the next. When many ports in one region stop at once, many ships miss their slots at once. They then arrive together, and terminals have to work through the queue. This is called vessel bunching.

The scale here is large. A No Harbour for Genocide spokesperson told Al Jazeera that participating Mediterranean ports handle 63 percent of the sea’s container activity, and that participating ports worldwide handle 13.5 percent of global shipping. Those are the organisers’ figures. Even if most terminals ran with reduced crews rather than stopping fully, that is a large share of capacity losing a day at the same time.

For forwarders and shippers, that leads to four practical problems.

First, missed cut-offs. Export boxes that reached the gate on Friday may not have been loaded. Many will be rolled, meaning bumped to the next sailing, often a week later on Asia and transatlantic loops.

Second, demurrage and detention. These are the daily charges for leaving a box in the terminal too long (demurrage) or keeping it outside the terminal too long (detention). Strike days often fall inside free time. Ask carriers and terminals now, in writing, whether they will extend free time for the strike. Do not assume they will.

Third, force majeure. Some carriers and terminals will treat the strike as an event beyond their control and refuse to cover the costs. Keep records: gate-in times, booking confirmations, terminal notices. They are what you need if you want to argue a charge later.

Fourth, inland knock-ons. The Italian order covered rail and road traffic as well as ports. February’s strike hit intermodal services from Trieste to Austria and Germany, Marine Insight reported. Check rail slots out of Trieste and Genoa this week.

What to watch, and our call

Watch the carrier customer advisories on Monday and Tuesday. The first sign of trouble will be a revised schedule or a skipped call at an Italian or Greek port. Watch Koper and Fos for extra calls. Watch what the Italian government does about the USB sanctions, because a fight over fines could bring more action.

Our call: by Wednesday 4 November, at least one major carrier will publish an advisory of delayed or skipped calls at Genoa or Gioia Tauro linked to the strike.

Sources