Protesting rising fuel costs, increased fees, and low wages, striking truckers blocked shipping ports in Shanghai:
Chinese authorities were locked in negotiations on Friday with striking truckers who have besieged the country’s largest port, in a bid to prevent the unrest from spreading to other cities.
Truck drivers at the Shanghai port of Baoshan are demanding relief from rising fuel costs and port fees, in a rare industrial action that will reinforce government fears about the destabilising impact of rising prices.
While localised labour and land disputes are common and usually contained, one of the government’s greatest fears is that popular discontent over inflation could spark a wider protest movement.
The move has alarmed the Chinese government, which fears a popular uprising:
Police have been dispatched to several port sites in the city since Wednesday, when drivers first gathered to call for higher freight rates to offset hikes in diesel prices.
Protesters assembled again around the China International Marine Containers (CIMC) terminal in Shanghai's northern Baoshan district on Friday morning, a participant told AFP by phone.
"It's chaotic here now. Policemen are coming with police cars ... they tried to disperse the people," the man said on condition of anonymity at mid-morning.
The protests have highlighted a major weak point in the Chinese supply chain. As factories move inland to access cheaper labor, the flawed transportation system is becoming exposed:
[T]here is a surprisingly weak link in the Made in China chain.
Moving those goods from the factory floor to one of China’s enormous seaports — often a drive of less than two hours — typically means relying on an independent trucking company. And as vital as trucking is to China’s mighty export machine, the government seems to be ignoring the drawbacks of what analysts say is an increasingly disorganized, inefficient and even costly way to transport factory goods to seaports.
Trucking’s tenuous status has been underscored by recent protests and demonstrations by drivers. Last week, in an unusually bold display of public anger, 2,000 truckers went on strike in Shanghai to complain about the rising cost of fuel and unfair government transportation fees.
Due to fees, high fines, and corruption the cost of transportation is actually greater in China than the U.S.:
According to the American Trucking Associations, moving goods by truck in the United States costs about $1.75 per mile. That includes driver salaries, truck leases, insurance, tolls and many other related costs.
By comparison, trucking costs in China’s two biggest export regions — the Yangtze River Delta region near Shanghai and the Pearl River Delta around Hong Kong — are $2.50 to $3 a mile...
Corruption is also a major problem. Chinese truck drivers say highway and port inspectors routinely demand payoffs or bribes. Drivers who refuse to pay may find themselves hit by large fines for even the smallest infraction. Some regions even operate illegal toll booths.