Container shipping faces serious disruption in Hamburg and Bremerhaven on Friday after German train engineers called for nationwide strikes following the breakdown of wage talks with Deutsche Bahn, the state-owned railway.

The stoppage will have an instant impact in Hamburg and Bremerhaven because they are the most rail-dependent container ports in northern Europe, with trains transporting up to 30 percent of the boxes moving to and from their terminals.

Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee said the stoppage would have “catastrophic consequences” for the German economy.

The GDL union representing engineers said it will give details Thursday how the strike, the first nationwide stoppage since 1992, will affect freight and passenger services. It is also due to announce whether the one-day action will be extended over the weekend and into next week.

A prolonged strike would also impact foreign ports, notably Rotterdam and Antwerp, which are major hubs for German container and general cargo traffic, a significant portion of which is transported by train.

The GDL, which represents nearly 12,000 engineers, is pressing for a 31-percent wage increase while Deutsche Bahn has offered 10-percent. Two other unions representing 22,000 engineers accepted a 4.5-percent raise earlier in the year.

Deutsche Bahn is Europe’s biggest rail freight operator running nearly 5,000 cargo services hauling 1 million metric tons of freight each day.

Deutsche Bahn said it plans to hire Austrian and Swiss engineers during the strike, the Bild am Sonntag newspaper said, citing an unnamed Deutsche Bahn manager. It also plans to use German engineers on public service contracts who are forbidden from striking.