West Coast Shippers Say Port Backups Untenable Amid Labor Talks

By James Nash

(Bloomberg) — A port slowdown and eight months of fruitless labor talks with longshoremen have introduced West Coast port congestion to the purpose of a breakdown, based on representatives of delivery corporations.

Backups on the 5 largest ports have reached ranges which are “no longer sustainable,” the Pacific Maritime Association, the bargaining agent for shippers, mentioned at this time in a press release. While stopping wanting a risk, the assertion suggests the long-running labor dispute could also be shifting nearer to a piece stoppage just like the one which shut down 29 West Coast ports for 10 days in 2002.

“The PMA has a sense of urgency to resolve these contract talks and get our ports moving again,” affiliation spokesman Steve Getzug mentioned within the assertion. “Unfortunately, it appears the union’s motivation is to continue slowdowns in an attempt to gain leverage in the bargaining.”

The shippers’ affiliation has been in negotiations with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union since May. A federal mediator agreed Jan. 6 to intervene within the talks.

Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the 20,000-member union, mentioned affiliation negotiators have conceded that the delays are largely resulting from a scarcity of truck chassis to unload delivery containers. The administration facet is proposing to finish night time shifts at many ports, which might solely worsen backups, “in a self-serving attempt to gain the upper hand at the bargaining table,” Merrilees mentioned in a written assertion.

Offshore Queues

Both sides agree that congestion in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma, has slowed the motion of products from abroad to shops and factories within the U.S.

Ten ships have been queued up offshore on the harbor shared by the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports this afternoon, up from as few as 5 in December, mentioned Phillip Sanfield, a spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles.

Backups may worsen with a push to maneuver items from Asia upfront of the two-week Lunar New Year vacation, which begins Feb. 19, Sanfield mentioned.

The delays have stunted income for corporations resembling MOBI Technologies Inc., a Culver City, California-based maker of digital thermometers, wi-fi audio-visual screens and different merchandise.

David Naghi, the privately held firm’s chief govt, mentioned delays in importing merchandise from China saved MOBI merchandise from retailer cabinets throughout the vacation purchasing season, inflicting the corporate to finish 2014 with no revenue.

“We still have products sitting on the boats that should have been in stores a month ago,” Naghi mentioned.