Europe chems braced for more rail strikes

13 November 2007 14:18  [Source: ICIS news]

By Mark Watts

 

LONDON (ICIS news)--The European chemicals industry was bracing itself on Tuesday for widespread supply disruptions due to proposed rail strikes in France and Germany.

 

French train operator SNCF warned that the train strike would likely bring the transport of freight to a halt.

 

Seven of the eight main French railway unions have opted to strike from 20:00 local time and throughout Wednesday in protest against the government’s plans to reform pension regimes.

 

Methanol producer Mider Helm said the strike in Germany was due to start midday local Wednesday and last for 48 hours – six hours longer than the last strike.

 

“You can’t replace deliveries by other means of transportation,” said a company spokesman. “There aren’t enough barges or trucks to go around so these logistical obstacles will impact the whole industry.”

 

A major European monoethylene glycol producer, which reported only minor issues during last week’s German strike, said the lack of a timeframe was causing nervousness in the markets.

 

“If the next German rail strike lasts for more than one day it will really hit German industry as a whole, because we rely on it so heavily,” said the producer.

 

In France, the SNCF warned that transport of all freight from 13-15 November was likely to be “extremely disrupted” and advised businesses to delay using the railways to transport their goods until the morning of 19 November.  

 

Problems would probably continue until the end of the week, added the operator.

 

Some European chemical players downplayed the impact of the strikes.

 

Jacek Dycheon, of Polish producer Tarnow, said it would have no special impact on his business as counter measures had been put into place to use trucks.

 

However, he was concerned that extra pressure on the European road network might lead to some delays.

 

A French vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) buyer for textiles and adhesives production said that it did not expect the strike to directly affect its business, but added that a prolonged stoppage could cause problems upstream in the petrochemicals sector.

 

“The problem will be more for the transport of passengers, not logistics… It needs time to see the impact on logistics for petrochemicals,” he said.

 

“I am not sure that a two-to-three-day strike will have an impact.”

 

Alex Martinos, Carl Roache, Caroline Howard, Charlie Shaw, Dan Horlock, Ed Cox, Fiona Bond, Heidi Finch and Philippa Jones contributed to this article

By: Mark Watts
+44 20 8652 3214

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