Continued shutdown for the fifth day? Revealing the true situation on the front line of the strike in the American West!

5th day of shutdown reveals true situation of Western US strike

【Summary】

>>After negotiation with the port management department failed and the union workers went on strike, the West Coast ports and docks were closed;

>>The West Coast ports have been in tense labor negotiations with the union, although progress has been made recently;

>>Due to a lack of sufficient labor, the Oakland port was closed on Friday morning, and it was reported that business in Los Angeles would also be closed.

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As contract negotiations between employers and employees are at a stalemate, the wave of strikes in the US West Coast ports has entered its fifth day. The latest news is that US exports are also affected by the strike, with rail transport to Los Angeles suspended, and Union Pacific has now stopped rail transport from Denver to the Los Angeles port.

Starting from Friday local time in the US West Coast, a series of strikes have hit the US West Coast due to the deadlock in negotiations between the union representing dock workers and port management, causing partial West Coast ports including Los Angeles and Oakland to shut down!

Pacific Maritime Association issues warning

As of the early shift on Friday, the SSA terminal at the largest Oakland port and the TraPac terminal at the Los Angeles port have been closed. Port operations in West Coast Oakland, Tacoma, Seattle, and Whittier ports have been severely disrupted, with most imports and exports being handled through these ports.

Last Friday, the Pacific Maritime Association representing West Coast port operators stated that dock workers were taking unified destructive work actions, and the strike actions have seriously disrupted the operations of large container port complexes in Southern California such as Los Angeles and Long Beach, and caused the greatest damage to the ports of Oakland and Seattle.

Since July 1st of last year, the 20,000 ILWU warehouse union members on the West Coast have been working without a contract, and direct negotiations have entered their 13th month.

Although the workers’ actions are not a formal strike, other ports on the West Coast have also been affected by the work stoppage due to union workers refusing to work. According to reports, business at the Los Angeles port hub will also be shut down, including FenixMarine, the APL terminal and the Hueneme port that handles cars and perishable goods. As of last Saturday, the situation remained unstable, with truck drivers being turned away at the gates of the Los Angeles port.

Lars Jensen, CEO of consulting firm Vespucci Maritime, said in a post on LinkedIn: “If this issue cannot be resolved quickly, there will be a foreseeable domino effect.”

According to Jensen, ships will queue up on the West Coast, just as they did during the prolonged strike eight years ago. Jensen predicts that if the strike becomes widespread and lasts for a long time, shipping costs to the United States could rise significantly.

According to data from DescartesDatamyne, West Coast ports handled 40% of U.S. container imports in the first quarter of this year, down from 45% in the same period in 2019.

The Port of Los Angeles is the busiest port in the United States, handling $440 billion worth of goods annually. As more trade has shifted to the East Coast over the past year, this market share has declined, at least in part due to labor issues on the West Coast that have made supply chain managers concerned about service reliability.

According to the latest feedback from our colleagues in the United States, the strike at the West Coast ports is continuing in a small area, but currently all unloading, container pickup, and stacking in our West Coast warehouses are normal, so you can rest assured that your goods will be shipped. Due to the closure of the SSA terminal and TraPac terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, there may be delays in delivery time, so please communicate with your freight company in a timely manner. We will also continue to share information on overseas logistics and platform updates.

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