Most West Coast ports were bustling with activity this week as marine terminals order full vessel, yard and gate work crews, and International Longshore and Warehouse Union dispatch halls are filling all of the orders. “ILWU members up and down the coast are working to load and unload vessels as quickly and safely as possible,” said union spokesman Craig Merrilees. Indeed, the Pacific Maritime Association said Tuesday container terminals in Seattle, Tacoma, Oakland, Los Angeles and Long Beach are chipping away at the container and vessel backlogs that had built up in recent weeks when coastwide contract negotiations were stalemated.
The glaring exception on the coast is Portland. ICTSI, which operates the Pacific Northwest port’s only container terminal, said a Hanjin Shipping Co. vessel that arrived there on Feb. 3 continued to languish because ILWU Local 8 refused each day to dispatch full work crews. “We are currently not seeing a good-faith effort by ILWU to bring productivity at Terminal 6 to acceptable levels. Additionally, the ILWU is failing to provide sufficient labor for needed container vessel and barge operations at the terminal,” ICTSI said in a press release.
Livingston continues to track the ongoing labor negotiations and will post updates as they become available. We recommend you bookmark our West Coast port updates page and follow us on Twitter to stay up-to-date on the latest.
Source: Journal of Commerce