MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Five shipping lines warn Uruguay the port dispute is damaging its international standing

The companies describe a situation of “extreme uncertainty and paralysis” at the specialised container terminal and say that so far in 2026 there have been “more than 35 days of” disruption

Five of the main shipping lines operating at the port of Montevideo have warned the Uruguayan government that the labour dispute at the Terminal Cuenca del Plata is causing “severe economic and commercial harm” and has “severely damaged Uruguay's international prestige”, in a letter addressed to six ministers.

The letter, dated September 22 and received by the ministries on September 24, is signed by Maersk Uruguay, Ocean Network Express, CMA CGM Uruguay, Cosco Shipping Lines and Hapag-Lloyd Uruguay. It was first reported by Informativo Carve. It is addressed to Economy Minister Gabriel Oddone, Labour Minister Juan Castillo, Transport and Public Works Minister Lucía Etcheverry, Industry, Energy and Mining Minister Fernanda Cardona, Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Alfredo Fratti, and Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin.

The companies describe a situation of “extreme uncertainty and paralysis” at the specialised container terminal and say that so far in 2026 there have been “more than 35 days of operational disruption of various kinds”. According to the letter, open-ended strikes have forced them to cancel calls and unload imports at other ports in the region, generating unforeseen costs and breaches of commitments to exporters, importers and hauliers. They argue that, because of the loss of transshipments, global operators now see the country “as an unsafe, unstable and commercially unreliable logistics enclave”, and call for “an immediate, substantive solution that restores predictability”.

The Terminal Cuenca del Plata, majority-owned by the Belgian group Katoen Natie, handles around 80% of containers at the port of Montevideo. The dispute with the port workers' union has dragged on for months, following the expiry of the previous collective agreement. The parties agree on most points of the new deal but differ over its duration: the company wants five years, while the union has said it is willing to sign for three and is seeking better terms if the period is longer.

On September 17, the executive issued a resolution declaring essential services to guarantee minimum operation of the terminal. The union rejected it as a restriction on the right to strike and went ahead with the stoppage planned for September 24 in Montevideo and Nueva Palmira. The company has said it will quantify the damage caused by the action, and exporters' and importers' chambers also report losses.

Minister Oddone has argued for reviewing “certain aspects of port regulation” to strengthen the port's competitiveness. A new tripartite meeting was held on Monday at the National Labour Directorate to examine a government proposal; no agreement was reported.

“Our economic scale is smaller than that of the region's coastal countries; therefore, we cannot afford to waste any opportunity by projecting an inappropriate image,” the shipping lines write, also warning of the risk to jobs in the industry.