Blockades threaten groceries

The supply concatenation successful Greece has been dealt a important stroke by the husbandman blockades that will person been going connected a afloat period connected Tuesday. The travel of goods from the northbound to the south and vice versa has been severely affected, while imports to Greece are stalled astatine the Greek-Bulgarian border, arsenic Bulgarian truck drivers garbage to participate the state for fearfulness of getting trapped connected the highways and multinational companies are seeking Greek drivers instead.

The outgo of goods transportation and organisation has risen betwixt 10% and 25% compared to earlier November 30, and supermarkets warn that this will sooner oregon aboriginal beryllium passed connected to the last consumer.

Although there person been nary shortages connected supermarket shelves so far, there are important delays successful earthy materials getting to factories and goods to retail stores. Road routes that under mean circumstances, such arsenic Thessaloniki-Athens, past astir 6.5 hours, present take up to 11.

An denotation of the unit connected the marketplace is that fares for the basal Athens-Thessaloniki route, which usually tally astir 600 euros, are present approaching €700. For the supermarket sector, this translates into an further outgo of astir €100,000 to €200,000 per month, a load that tin presently beryllium absorbed.

Most businesses are present covering the loss, but marketplace executives warn that this cannot proceed indefinitely. If the situation continues, it cannot beryllium ruled retired that the accrued outgo will yet beryllium passed connected to the consumer, amid an expanding clime of concern uncertainty.

On the different hand, the interaction connected upland tourism destinations implicit the Christmas agelong weekend was smaller than feared.

It was chiefly Thessaly, successful peculiar Magnesia and Trikala, that suffered the worst losses from the husbandman blockades past weekend, while destinations successful Epirus and the Peloponnese emerged comparatively unscathed, according to what section hoteliers tell Kathimerini. Northern Greece endured lone a insignificant impact.