Spanish truckers began an indefinite strike Monday morning and French rail workers will walk off the job later tonight, threatening serious delays to shipping at the countries’ major container and bulk cargo ports.

At least 90,000 Spanish truckers have stopped work to protest soaring fuel prices, setting up blockades at roads leading to the ports of Barcelona and Valencia, smashing windshields and slashing the tires of rigs that crossed their picket lines.

The strikers have been joined by truckers in neighboring Portugal who walked off the job Monday, also in protest against rising fuel prices which they claim will bankrupt hundreds of transport firms.

Spanish truckers have also mounted blockades at the border crossing with France, creating long lines of freight vehicles on both sides of the frontier.

The Spanish truckers, who mostly own their own vehicles or work for small trucking firms, are demanding the government set minimum freight rates and ensure contracts more closely reflect the fluctuating price of diesel which has soared by over 20 percent this year.

French rail workers are due to walk off the job at 8 p.m. local time to protest plans by SNCF, the state-owned railway, to restructure its money-losing freight division.

The strike, which is originally set for 24 hours but could extend through the week, will slow the movement of containers to and from ports like Le Havre where operations have been seriously impacted by a two-month long campaign of weekly 24-hour strikes by dockworkers.

French dockworkers, meanwhile, are planning more 24-hour strikes at seven state-controlled ports, including Le Havre and Marseilles, to protest government plans to privatize container handling.

Shipping lines have been diverting containers from Marseilles to other Mediterranean ports, but an extended Spanish truckers strike would create a backlog of boxes at Barcelona and Valencia.

By: Bruce Barnard