The view from Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach on Wednesday morning was littered with cargo ships off the coast waiting to unload their goods in the Port of Long Beach. January 14, 2015. (Brittany Murray / Staff Photographer)
LONG BEACH >> A dozen ships carrying goods bound for store shelves and car lots across the nation cluttered the view from shore Wednesday, waiting to be unloaded at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
A year ago, container ships were rarely seen at anchor. Other than an occasional repair or insect infestation, most ships berthed immediately upon arrival, said Capt. J. Kip Louttit, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California & Vessel Traffic Service of Los Angeles & Long Beach.
Now, with congestion worsening at the nation’s busiest seaport complex and the Pacific Maritime Association’s suspending all ship-unloading night shifts, all eyes turn to the warring longshore workers union and their employers, the PMA, to quickly resolve a contract through federal mediation.
“The war of words between International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association on port congestion continues to concern the supply chain community,” said Jonathan Gold, who as vice president of the National Retail Federation, represents those waiting for the cargo. “The two sides continue to strain the shipping community — importers and exporters — and threaten the very competitiveness of the West Coast ports.”
Since May, the union representing 20,000 West Coast dockworkers and the Pacific Maritime Association have been negotiating a new contract, with the last contract expiring in July.
Although both sides came to a tentative agreement on health benefits, talks broke down soon after, with both accusing one another of slowdowns that are only exacerbating bottlenecks at the ports. Last week, a federal mediator was assigned to intervene in contract talks. As of Wednesday, both sides continued to meet with the mediator.
On Tuesday, the Pacific Maritime Association stopped all loading and unloading of ships at night in favor of clearing containers from terminal yards. PMA officials did not know how long the suspension would last, but said that the move was necessary to clear out congested terminals they say the union caused.
“The union’s refusal for 10 weeks now to dispatch skilled workers to drive yard cranes has created precarious situations at many terminals, and this is another attempt by the terminal operators to chip away at congestion,” said PMA spokesman Steve Getzug. “The fastest way for the ports to return to normal is for the union to dispatch qualified yard crane drivers the same way that they had for 15 years.”
The union fired back, saying management’s decision to suspend night vessel shifts has displaced 1,000 workers. Of the 1,100 workers who reported to the hiring hall, only 226 were assigned, said Adan Ortega, spokesman for ILWU Local 13.
He said it’s the employers who have reduced the number of crews to unload a ship — from six or eight crews to three crews in July.
San Pedro resident Nick Geich, a crane operator for 37 years, bristled at the allegations that workers are creating the slowdowns, adding that his colleagues are breaking records for container moves.
“There are 1,000 containers being moved with three gangs,” Geich said. “Slowing down? Really? How disrespectful. I’m giving it my all.”
Tony Scioscia, a shipping industry veteran who ran terminal operations at some of the West Coast’s larger ports and served as the board chair for the PMA during past negotiations, said the work slowdowns are affecting terminals already congested because of the lack of available chassis, on which the cargo containers are placed before being hitched to trucks, the arrival of bigger ships carrying more cargo and other issues.
“With the buildup, any disruption can push it right off the cliff and that’s what’s going on right now,” he said.
Jon Slangerup, chief executive at the Port of Long Beach, said he and his counterpart at the Port of Los Angeles, Gene Seroka, are hoping for a quick contract resolution.
“We want this thing solved; we want to get back to work because (the congestion) is escalating,” Slangerup said. “It’s getting worse every day. It’s a big concern.”
U.S. Shippers Cancel Overnight Loaders At California Ports
Negotiators for shipping lines and terminal operators at 29 ports on the U.S. West Coast on Tuesday said they would no longer assign crews to load and unload cargo ships overnight at the massive Los Angeles and Long Beach docks.
The move comes a day after the Pacific Maritime Association said the region’s five largest ports, including Los Angeles and Long Beach, had seen backups “approaching complete gridlock,” as contentious contract talks with the dockworkers union have stalled.
Management has accused the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) of orchestrating slowdowns to bolster its leverage at the bargaining table in the talks that have been under way for eight months.
Long Beach container port – Credits: wikimedia.org
Union officials, however, have consistently denied staging slowdowns, saying decisions made by management including cutting back on night crews were responsible for the gridlock.
Steve Getzug, a spokesman for the PMA, said on Tuesday night that the ILWU had been withholding crane drivers crucial to unloading cargo since November, which had led to increased congestion.
Adan Ortega, a spokesman for the ILWU, told Reuters that in November the union began only sending out trained and certified crane operators, saying that job-site accidents were occurring due to the use of unskilled workers.
Ortega said the PMA was not providing sufficient training for the operators, and was relying on uncertified and untrained workers.
Getzug said the PMA’s move would refocus efforts during the night hours on removing the growing number of empty containers that had piled up on the terminal yards during the recent backup.
The move will not affect dayside work nor certain night shift employees who are not involved in loading or unloading ships, he said.
A federal mediator is currently involved in the negotiations between the association and the union, which represents some 20,000 dockworkers. The workers’ latest contract expired on June 30.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Mark Potter)
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