BOGOTA--Workers at Colombia's main railway for coal exports went
on strike Monday, adding to a five-day strike at the coal mines of
the local unit of Glencore International PLC (GLNCY, GLEN.LN).
"The railway workers from Fenoco have also now agreed to strike,
they started at 6 a.m.," said Alfredo Tovar, a leader of the coal
workers union Sintramienergetica, said by telephone.
Officials at Fenoco weren't immediately available for
comment.
The Fenoco railway company in the northern state of Cesar is
used to haul coal for Glencore as well as that of Goldman Sachs
Group Inc.'s local unit CNR, Brazilian mining giant Vale SA (VALE,
VALE5.BR), and Alabama-based Drummond. It transports around 40
million metric tons of coal a year for export, more than half
Colombia's total shipments, Tovar said.
Tovar said that with the railway shut down, it's possible these
companies could use 18-wheelers to move their coal moving toward
ports. But he said he doubts they could "even come close" to what
the trains transport, in terms of volume.
Colombia is among the world's top coal exporters. It produced 87
million metric tons of coal last year and was hoping for nearly 100
million tons in 2012.
Unaffected by the coal miners' strike in the state of Cesar are
operations at Cerrejon LLC, Colombia's largest coal exporter, which
is equally-owned by Xstrata PLC (XTA.LN), Anglo American PLC
(AAUKY, AAL.LN) and BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP, BHP.AU).
The workers at Glencore's La Jagua mine that went on strike
Thursday are seeking better wages. Workers at other Glencore-held
mines in the area also joined in the walkout, in solidarity.
Tovar said his union remains ready to sit down and iron out a
deal on wages, health benefits and other issues, but said that as
of Monday morning he hasn't heard from management.
-Write to Dan Molinski at dan.molinski@dowjones.com