Puerto de Las Palmas to add 150 stevedores, raising Sociedad de Estiba headcount to 604
The Port of Las Palmas will close this year with the addition of 150 new dockworkers, bringing the Sociedad de Estiba workforce to 604. The expansion, justified by the increase in activity of the multinational Mediterranea Shipping Company (MSC) at the OPCSA terminal to surpass 1.3 million TEU (20-foot containers), entails the hiring of 357 workers in just over four years in a workforce that has historically suffered from severe operational rigidities and labor costs above market levels. The labor rigidity, the text notes, dates back to the era of Franco.
Monopoly over captive island traffic: 140,000 shifts in one year
Activity figures reflect the scope of the monopoly over captive island traffic: the lobby completed 140,000 work shifts in a single year, 75% of which were concentrated exclusively in the terminal operated by MSC. To sustain 78,000 TEU per month, the union representation has demanded absolute protection of hiring, ensuring—through EREs or ERTEs assumed by the port community—that no contracted worker would be laid off in the event of a fall in maritime traffic.
Higher wages translate into higher prices for goods entering the archipelago
The volume of revenues and the wage mass of the group feed directly into the final price of inputs brought into the archipelago. With average pay exceeding 70,000 euros per year per stevedore—more than triple the average salary in the Canaries, which is around 23,000 euros—the cost of handling general cargo and refrigerated containers adds a fixed extra charge per ton for the waste in the dock pit.
Structural markup in stevedoring: up to 40% more than comparable mainland terminals
This cost differential hits final consumer prices head-on. The Canaries lead national inflation rates in the shopping basket, with a food basket 10% more expensive than the peninsular average. While the political debate often focuses on the impact of the Arbitrio sobre Importaciones y Entregas de Mercancías (AIEM), the real structural surcharge begins with stevedoring: handling a container in Canary ports is up to 40% more costly than in comparable mainland transshipment terminals.
Low productivity and a forecast of 250 retirements drive a closed, protected replacement scheme
Alongside the inflated wage tables comes low productivity in rotation ratios compared with European automation, and a forecast of 250 retirements over the next decade (with average departures of 25 to 30 workers per year). This closed, protected generational replacement model, backed by corporate labor agreements, passes the entire bill for its pay privileges to the distributors and importers—and ultimately to the Canary families’ grocery budgets, where importers pass on the added cost.
The entry The hidden bill from Las Palmas’ right-leaning stevedoring lobby: 140,000 shifts and 150 new permanent jobs passed on to your wallet was first published on canarymaritime.com.
