Skorea: Truckers’ strike costs $1.2B in damages

SEOUL, South Korea — A weeklong strike by thousands of truckers in South Korea has triggered major disruptions in cargo transport and production that have caused $1.2 billion in damages, officials said Monday.

An extended strike may eventually worsen the global supply chains already battered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s pandemic curbs. But the strike’s impact has so far been largely limited to South Korea’s domestic industry. With the world’s 10th largest economy, the country hasn’t reported any major disruption of exports of key items like semiconductors.

The fourth round of negotiations between the striking truckers and government officials Sunday failed to reach a deal. Transport Ministry officials said they would seek to continue talks, but the Cargo Truckers Solidarity said Monday it has no plans to resume the negotiations.

At the center of the dispute is the truckers’ calls for a minimum wage guarantee amid surging fuel prices. It wasn’t known what derailed Sunday’s talks, but the truckers’ association said the government refused to accept its calls for “a more active position” on the minimum wage demand.

The Transport Ministry said about 6,600 truckers were rallying Monday in 14 locations across South Korea. But the Cargo Truckers Solidarity said a far larger number of truckers were refusing to work.

South Korea’s auto, steel, petrochemistry, cement and other sectors have been hit hard by the strike.

Factories couldn’t produce 5,400 cars as scheduled due to a delay of deliveries of components. The planned shipping or delivery of 450,000 tons of steel, $390 million worth of petrochemicals, 810,000 tons of cement and 640,000 tires have also been put off, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement.

But the ministry said that South Korea’s cargo transport disruption hasn’t reached a level that threatens global supply chains.

Observers said some companies ordered supplies in advance in anticipation of the strike.