Much to the relief of South Korean steelmakers and their customers, on Friday two-thirds of unionized truck drivers under the Cargo Truckers’ Solidarity Union voted to end their strike that had dragged on for 16 days. And according to government estimates, the strike had cost firms in the steel and petrochemicals sector each around KRW 1.3 trillion ($987.7 million).
The strike began on November 24 over truck driver demands that a temporary scheme that guarantees minimum cargo rates be made permanent, as Mysteel Global reported.
The vote was taken in response to the Korean government’s executive order issued on Thursday for the 6,000 and 4,500 drivers in the two industries to restart work or face punitive action. This followed that made to 2,500 striking cement truck drivers on November 29, the first time such an order was issued since the Trucking Transport Business Act was enacted in 2004, Korean reports noted.
Yet even before Thursday’s order, there were already signs that the truck drivers’ resolve was weakening. Earlier last week, non-union drivers who had joined the strike voted to restart work, with deliveries from Hyundai Steel’s three works – Incheon, Dangjin and Pohang – restarting on December 7, though at half the average daily shipment of 50,000 tonnes, according to industry sources. Steel shipments from POSCO’s Pohang and Gwangyang factories had started from late on the previous day.
Meanwhile, special steelmaker SeAH Steel said that after last Thursday’s government order, deliveries from its Gunsan plant on Korea’s west coast had recovered to 50-60% of pre-strike levels, compared with 10-20% while the strike was on.
The speciality steel shop at the Gunsan works hosts 1.8 million tonnes/year of crude steel capacity and the plant’s heavy forge operation another 820,000 t/y, according to SeAH’s plant data.
The Korea Iron and Steel Association estimates that the strike had prevented some 1 million tonnes of steel from being delivered.
Written by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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