Uruguay Port Conflict Hits Fishing Exports, Diverts Cargo to Other Ports – Datamar News | 01/10/26

The prolonged labor dispute at Terminal Cuenca del Plata (TCP) in the Port of Montevideo has begun to directly affect Uruguay’s fishing exports and push cargo toward alternative gateways in Buenos Aires and Santos, Brazil, amid growing uncertainty over port operations. Five of the main shipping lines operating in Uruguay — Maersk Uruguay, Ocean Network Express (ONE), CMA CGM Uruguay, Cosco Shipping Lines and Hapag-Lloyd Uruguay — warned the government that more than 35 days of operational disruptions have accumulated so far in 2026, resulting in lost transshipment cargo, delays and difficulties maintaining scheduled maritime services. The dispute is taking place as TCP and its approximately 550 workers negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement; the terminal, which is 80% owned by Belgium’s Katoen Natie and 20% by Uruguay’s National Ports Administration, handles around 80% of the country’s containers. For the fishing industry, difficulties securing shipments have caused finished products to accumulate in cold-storage facilities: companies that previously shipped two or three times a week must now wait two or three weeks, delaying payments, increasing production and storage costs and making it harder to meet commitments to international customers. In response to repeated labor actions, the Uruguayan government introduced a minimum-service regime in September covering vessel loading and unloading, the receipt of import and export containers, storage services and the handling of refrigerated cargo and perishable products. Shipping lines warned that continued disruptions threaten Uruguay’s international reputation, employment and foreign trade competitiveness, while the lack of predictable connections is already shifting part of the region’s logistics flows toward alternatives outside the country. Link to Article