French and German railway workers are threatening a strike that would disrupt container traffic across the Le Havre-Hamburg port range.
Germany's GDL train drivers' union said it would strike freight services, possibly starting later today, unless Deutsche Bahn, the state railway, significantly improves its wage offer.
French rail workers are scheduled to walk off the job on November 13 in a co-ordinated protest with utility workers to protest government plans to reform pensions for public employees. The strike comes at a time when the country's top box port, Le Havre, is striving to increase rail services to keep pace with double-digit growth in container traffic.
The strikes would have an immediate impact on the ports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven, two of Europe's biggest container hubs, as trains transport around 30 percent of boxes moving to and from their terminals.
The stoppages also would affect Rotterdam, Europe's biggest container port, and Antwerp, the third-busiest box hub, as much of their container traffic is destined for Germany.
A prolonged French strike appears likely as President Nicolas Sarkozy has said he is determined to reform a pension system dating back to the thirties. A three-week strike by rail workers in 1995 forced then-Prime Minister Alain Juppe to withdraw a plan to reform public pensions.
Germany's GDL union is demanding a 31-percent wage increase for its 12,000 drivers, having rejected a 4.5- ercent deal struck between Deutsche Bahn and two other unions representing 22,000 drivers. It has dismissed a separate offer which Deutsche Bahn says is equivalent to a 10-percent wage increase.
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