The union of exporters has reported losses of $145 million, and more than 12,000 shipping containers held up because of the blockades which have now been going on for more than a week.
Reports indicate that two shipping companies have suspended operations at the ports and announced they will not disembark because of "inability to ensure the safety of their staff."This is just one example of the serious damage caused to in the country by the blockades and demonstrations held by truckers for almost a week at customs offices and ports in Guatemala.
In Costa Rica the will of the state to impose the rule of law against the de facto power exercised by any conglomerate continues to shrink.
The concessionaire APM Terminals has reported losses of up to $200,000 a day because of blockades by truckers who are obstructing the route to the construction site for the container terminal in Moin.
At least 200 carriers have blocked route 257 in the Caribbean of Costa Rica for a fifth day, which has brought economic losses both for companies who have to use this route as well as the Dutch company APM Terminals. The road in question leads to the construction site of the Moin Container Terminal (TCM). According to APM Terminals each passing day will mean losses of some $200,000.
Guatemala carriers have blocked passage through customs posts at Pedro de Alvarado, Jutiapa, in protest against the excessive slowness of procedures for entering El Salvador.
The slowness of customs formalities as a result of the computer system crash caused some 300 carriers to form a blockade using their trucks from Sunday February 28th on the route to the customs office in Ciudad Pedro de Alvarado, located in Moyuta, in the Guatemalan department of Jutiapa, on the border with El Salvador.
The Government and the union agreed to meet in the coming days to resolve complaints made by the industry, which resulted in two days of strikes and business losses of at least $10 million.
The blockade by truckers on the border between Costa Rica and Panama, organized by the National Chamber of Cargo Transportation (Canacarga) and the Truckers Union of Chiriqui (Sicachi), was suspended on the night of February 16, after a party from the Government of Panama went from the capital to the province of Chiriqui.
The union has exhausted dialogue with the regional government of Chiriqui and is a blockading the border preventing the movement of freight carriers in Central America.
The provincial government in Chiriqui has failed to prevent Panamanian carriers, organized by the National Chamber of Cargo Transportation in Panama, (Canatraca) from indefinitely blocking the passage of trucks across the border in Paso Canoas (information at time of going to press at 3:30 p.m).
Less than 24 hours after it started union leaders signed an agreement with the Solis administration to end the strike that had paralyzed ports and the sale of fuels.
The strike called by major unions in the country lasted less than 24 hours and did not achieved the "historic" call aimed for by the organizers, who negotiated an end to the strike with the government around midnight on October 26.
The authorities at customs offices in Guatemala and Honduras have opened new routes for regional transit of goods between the two countries.
The aim of the opening of new routes at the borders between the two countries, in El Florido and Agua Caliente, is to streamline regional trade which has been blocked because of the protests over the application of a fee of $18 in Salvadoran customs offices for X-ray inspection of trucks.
Regional unions are threatening a general strike in the Salvadoran border to protest at the rate of $18 per inspection at customs offices in that country.
S21.com.gt reports: "The new provision of the General Customs of El Salvador will take effect on 6 January, in light of this, carriers of the remaining five countries in the region have announced a general strike on the Salvadoran border if this legislation goes ahead. "
Costa Rican truckers have lifted the blockade which they were holding at Paso Canoas confident that the Panamanian authorities will comply with the agreements signed.
The truckers decided to end the five-day strike held in Paso Canoas and are hoping that the Costa Rican government will not permit them to suffer any more abuses by the State Border Service (SENAFRONT).
An agreement signed between the foreign ministries of Costa Rica and Panama was not enough for the Costa Rican truckers to lift the blockade in Paso Canoas, which has gone on for five days.
Juan Carlos Segura, a spokesman for the carriers, said that the 300 trucks at the border will remain in place because the compromise agreed by the ministers is a joke and does not address the abuses of the State Border Service of Panama (SENAFRONT).
Costa Rican transporters have blocked the Paso Canoas border alleging abuses in the controls carried out by Panamanian authorities.
The measure taken by the Costa Ricans have already caused millions in losses due to delays in the arrival of cargo and damage to goods. For this reason the National Chamber of Panamanian Cargo Transporters (Canatraca) has asked the authorities concerned to solve a problem which has returned only five months after an agreement was signed between the two nations.
After the Salvadoran Supreme Court suspended the Fonat law, carriers decided to resume their work.
"There is no longer a reason for the strike," said Raul Alfaro, president of the Association of International Cargo Transporters (ASTIC).
"The Chamber accepted a constitutional challenge submitted by the ASTIC against the collection of accident insurance, namely the Fund for Victims of Traffic Accidents (Fonat), from which the Legislature excluded foreign transporters, but not Salvadorans," noted an article in Elsalvador.com.
The Central Council of Transport has announced a three-day strike in protest against El Salvador levying a tax on freight carriers of between $35 and $250.
Laprensa.com.ni reports that "the measure will affect all regional trade, because the rest of the international freight carriers from the isthmus will join the strike 'in solidarity' in order to send a message to other governments who have created new taxes on trade merchandise ... ".
The main freight union of Central America has issued an ultimatum to the government of El Salvador to modify the collection of the new tax levied at customs offices.
Representatives of these unions which integrate the Central American Council of Transport have given a deadline of May 31 to amend this charge, otherwise on that date, if Congress has not amended the law which created the new tax, the truckers will go on strike for an undefined period causing heavy losses to Central American companies.
Costa Rican Carriers have blocked cargo vehicles from crossing the Costa Rica - Panama border at Paso Canoas, in protest against control procedures by Panamanian officials.
The blockade has lasted five days and involves about a thousand trucks detained on both sides of the border.
The situation has got worse in the last few hours, with reports of a run over a person at the site.