Truck drivers’ strike costs economy CYP 3-4 mln a day

A truck drivers’ strike that has paralysed the island’s transport sector for a second day on Thursday, is costing the economy CYP 3 to 4 mln a day, as imports are not delivered and exports are grounded.

Hardest hit is the construction sector with a halt in cement, iron and wood deliveries expected to cost some 25,000 builders their jobs.

Drivers of the medium-sized ‘A’ license trucks are opposing the government’s plans to issue 200 new permits to ‘B’ license heavy truck drivers and issue the new super-heavy ‘C’ license for very big lorries in accordance with EU regulations.

The ‘A’ truck drivers and the POVEK small enterprises’ union say that the government is unfair in issuing new licenses at the time when their members have been rejected additional or ‘B’ licenses.

Christos Matsis, Director of the island’s main Limassol port, said that some 2,000 20-ft containers have already piled up in his compound.

“We have the capacity to accommodate more, but the port area will be overwhelmed if the strike is not over in a week’s time,” he said.

Market analysts said that this strike could even have the same disastrous results when another strike in recent years prevented animal feed from reaching farms and many cattle and sheep died of starvation.