As contract negotiations between employers and workers grind to a halt, a wave of strikes across America’s west coast ports enters its fourth day. On Friday, the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) said dockworkers are staging “coordinated and disruptive work activities” that have halted or severely impacted operations from terminals at Southern California's large container port complex (Los Angeles, Long Beach, etc.) to Seattle, with Oakland experiencing the most significant disruption. The strike began on Saturday and continues into Sunday. IWWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union) international president, Willie Adams, said talks are ongoing
The new work actions come amid ongoing labour negotiations between PMA and ILWU, which are now in their thirteenth month. “We won’t accept a package that fails to recognise the hard work and personal sacrifice of ILWU members who helped the shipping industry reach record profits during the surge of cargo during the first days of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Adams said.
West Coast ports handled 40% of U.S. container imports during the first quarter of 2021, according to data compiled by DescartesDatamyne. That’s a decrease from 45% during the same period last year.
Recent news from the Panama Canal, where extreme drought and the potential advent of the El Nio weather phenomena are causing a series of draft limitations to be enforced, has thrown a curve ball into shippers' plans to relocate to the east coast.
Vespucci Maritime CEO Lars Jensen wrote on LinkedIn, "If this is not resolved very fast, the chain of dominoes which would fall is pretty predictable."
Vessels will begin backing up along the west coast, as they did eight years ago during the previous extended strike action, according to Jensen.
If the shutdowns spread widely and last a long time, Jensen anticipated that freight rates into the US may rise fairly dramatically.
