Thursday October 19 9:27 AM ET

Chile Truckers Strike for 3rd Day, Fuel Lines Start

By Chris Aspin

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chilean truckers blocked roads across this South American nation for a third day on Thursday in a strike against a tax on diesel fuel as fears loomed of imminent food and gasoline shortages.

Short lines formed on Thursday morning at fuel stations in the Chilean capital and market traders said fish and vegetable prices were spiraling -- a sign that few trucks were by-passing the blockade along this 2,700-mile-long (4,345-km-long) nation.

The government, backing down slightly from a previous stance of no talks during the strike, offered on Thursday to negotiate an end to the dispute if the truckers stopped blocking roads, which in some places is partial and in others total.

``Clear the roads. The government is open to talks as soon as the roads are open,'' said Interior Minister Jose Miguel Insulza. ``They can continue to strike, after all I cannot force a haulier to drive his vehicle, but clear the roads.''

Witnesses said truck drivers on the outskirts of the capital city continued to allow traffic to flow only in one lane in either direction on the Pan-American highway, the major road that runs the length of the nation.

Television images showed no traffic movement at Chillan, a pork sausages town 250 miles (400 km) south of Santiago. A dozen trucks were parked at right angles on the Pan-American highway, with police in discussion with truckers.

Leaders of the National Confederation of Truck Owners claim more than 7,500 vehicles were involved in the indefinite protest that started on Tuesday.

The truck owners are demanding that a national register of cargo vehicles be created and that the government cut in half a special diesel tax that truckers pay for using the roads. They also want the government to serve as a guarantor so they can refinance loans taken out to buy vehicles.

Industry sources said gasoline stations and supermarkets, which stocked up on provisions ahead of the strike, have supplies for the next few days -- as long as there was no panic buying -- a call that was being ignored by some.

``I'm filling up my car, and the wife is filling up hers right behind me,'' said Mario Bustamante, a 42-year-old insurance salesman who had lined up for 25 minutes at a gasoline station in downtown Santiago.

``Hardly anything has been able to get through, we normally see 25 to 30 trucks of potatoes a day and only four have arrived,'' one wholesale trader told local TV. ``Prices have gone up to 15,000 pesos per sack ($26) from 9,000 ($16) on Wednesday.''

Chilean truckers, who haul 92 percent of freight moved in Chile, charge $2.5 billion a year for their services and copper is the primary cargo. There are railways in some regions, but the network is not fully developed or integrated.

Copper is Chile's top export earner, and the country is the world's No. 1 copper producer.

The Chuquicamata division of Chile's state-owned Codelco, the world's largest copper miner, has said the strike has not hit its output but could if it continued. Smelters might have to be halted if by-products build up and cannot be trucked out.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001019/wl/chile_truckers_dc_1.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 19, 2000