Dockworkers Strike in 22 Countries and 113 Ports Against Military Use of Port Terminals

Dockworkers' unions from 22 countries launched a strike on October 30 across 113 ports to protest against the war and the use of port terminals for arms transport. The call to action, originally driven by unions from Italy, France, Greece, Spain's Basque Country, Turkey and Morocco, ended up bringing together more than 25 labor organizations across different continents.

The protest reached major shipping hubs such as Hamburg, Valencia, Le Havre, Algeciras, Piraeus, Genoa, Tanger Med and Nhava Sheva in India. According to organizers cited by Baird Maritime, the action could affect more than 40% of the cargo moving through the Mediterranean and some $2 billion worth of goods, although a spokesperson for the port of Genoa anticipated a limited impact. The activist group 'No Harbour for Genocide,' which seeks to prevent military cargo from entering Israeli ports, estimated instead that the strike would halt around 52,000 containers and operations worth $2.8 billion, according to Portal Portuario.

In Piraeus, Greece's main port, cargo operations were halted and ferry services to the islands were suspended, with around 3,000 port and maritime workers joining the action, according to Portal Portuario. Dockworkers at the port stopped work between 08:00 and 11:00 GMT, while other unions in the sector held a 24-hour strike. The president of the Greek merchant marine engineers' union, Apostolos Kypraios, told Reuters they would not work for the war, and George Gogos, head of the Piraeus port workers' union, also referred to the impact of rising energy and essential goods prices on workers.

The mobilization also affected cruise operations. MSC Cruises canceled the scheduled call of the MSC Virtuosa at Le Havre due to the union action at that port; the ship, which is sailing a seven-night voyage from Southampton with 4,842 passengers, spent an extra day at sea, and the line offered refunds for booked shore excursions. In Genoa, around 5,000 passengers were expected to pass through the port amid Italy's 24-hour nationwide strike, with no major disruptions confirmed, while in Greece the ferry strike had not, so far, led to any cruise cancellations.

The unions recalled that in May 2026 port organizations from more than 35 European countries had signed the Istanbul Declaration, which demands that port facilities not be used to transport weapons to war zones. The Greek seafarers' union Penen noted that 28 attacks on ships were recorded in the Persian Gulf during the first 21 days of October, the highest figure since the start of the war between Iran and the United States, and that 570 attacks had been confirmed so far this year in the Black Sea, with 40 maritime workers killed. Representatives of the Indian union WTWFI also stated that around 15 seafarers from that country had died as a result of the conflict between Iran and the United States.