Swedish Dockworkers Union unwavering on Russian blockage amid pushback from port association

Ports of Sweden have questioned the country’s dockworkers union’s decision to block Russian ships and cargo from entering Swedish ports. The union remains resolute in solidarity with Ukrainian workers and civilians.

PHOTO: Oil tanks and terminals in the Port of Gothenburg, Sweden. Getty Images

Ports of Sweden chief executive Marcus Dahlsten says they back coordinated sanctions and humanitarian efforts to support Ukraine, but that sanctions need to be implemented on an EU-wide basis to have effect.

Dahlsten calls for clarification from Swedish authorities about the current sanctions regime and how Russian-controlled ships should be handled.

To avoid that “Swedish – or for that matter Ukrainian – societal interests are not harmed unnecessarily,” he also calls for clarification from the Swedish Dockworkers Union on what it means by “Russian export or export goods” and “Russian-controlled ships”.

The Swedish Dockworkers Union notified Ports of Sweden last week that its workers will not handle any vessels or cargo from or to Russia in any Swedish ports.

The union said it has taken matters into its own hands in the absence of any EU-wide sanctions on Russian energy, a critical source of Russian income. They will stop handling Russian vessels and cargo out of solidarity with Ukraine's "suffering working class" and civil society during the Putin regime's bombing, occupation and deadly siege of Ukraine.

“'Business as usual' is no longer possible, we have waited for effective sanctions from the state or the EU blocking Swedish ports for Russian interests at this point, but time has run out,” the union’s national chairman Martin Berg said last Thursday.

The blockade will enter into force at 11.00 local time (10.00 GMT) on 28 March and last for an undetermined period. Union members are voting this week, following a unanimous board vote in favour of a blockade.

Speaking to ENGINE Online, the union’s vice president Erik Helgeson said they anticipate there will be some pushback over time unless the boycott is backed officially by Swedish authorities. But they are seeing enormous support for this among Swedish citizens at the moment.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude for the stance taken by the union last Friday.

Helgeson and his colleagues have been getting calls from shipping agents to clarify their stance on freight: whether cargo loaded in a different country can make a stop in a Swedish port before proceeding to Russia. To that his answer is resolutely “No.”

Some actors also find it convenient to blame us when they can’t fulfill their contracts, he says.

The union is well aware of what its members are signing up to. There will be less work going around with Russian ships and cargo boycotted and the blockage might be drawn-out.

But if we have to take that fight against those opposing this, we will, he says, adding that it would be easier to see this through with support from Swedish authorities.

Earlier this month, the union wrote a letter to Sweden’s Ministry of Infrastructure, urging the government to ban access of Russian vessels and entities to Swedish ports.

The union has repeatedly expressed unwillingness to provide services to Russian vessels and cargo due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, but there has been no response from the Swedish government, it says.

Helgeson argues that imperfect sanctions without strong official backing will incur a lot of extra costs, while a wider sanctions regime with support from shipping agents, authorities and port associations would make the process clearer.

This is not the first time the union shows solidarity with oppressed peoples, he says. Swedish dockworkers have previously boycotted cargo going to and from Israel over its blockage of Gaza in 2010, and to South Africa while it was under apartheid rule.

We want to contribute to stop the invasion and sometimes we need to put our foot down and take a stand, he says.