Port News

If the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) strike continues past next week, shippers say they will likely book more freight through West Coast ports, rather than risk being caught up in logjams at East and Gulf coast ports.

Several groups are calling on the White House to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act to stop the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) strike that began on Tuesday at midnight.

A nationwide rail strike this year in Canada and the shutdown on British Columbia ports in 2023 give Montreal stakeholders little confidence that the Trudeau government will act swiftly to end wider strikes at the Port of Montreal if port workers pursue more.

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) rejected a last-minute offer from maritime employers that included higher wages and retirement contributions, as the first strike by East and Gulf coast port workers since 1977 got underway.

Trucking companies rushed to remove containers at East and Gulf coast ports before a Tuesday strike as nearby yards swell with container equipment and chassis.

Container lines are contracting directly with perishables shippers, undercutting volume brokers, but the specialized reefer fleet is hanging on to niche markets as a handful of ports pivot toward dockside cold storage.

Nearly five decades of labor peace on the US East and Gulf Coast are coming to an end, with carriers loathe to see high US operating costs high, labor aware of a historic opportunity, and the Biden admiration reluctant to intervene.

The increased fees are the latest sign that freight demand in California remains red hot in September, while other high-volume lanes are seeing minimal growth from 2023 levels.

The strike will affect about 40% of Montreal’s container capacity and comes as port employers remain in protracted talks with the longshore union over a new contract.

Should a strike occur — and if it continues for an extended period — one possible outcome is the spillover of container cargo into breakbulk vessels, similar to the scenario that played out in response to supply chain bottlenecks during the pandemic.

The White House may finally be looking to take a firmer hand in stalled talks between the ILA and maritime employers with an expected strike just days away.

Israel-based Zim said its new alliance with MSC will offer customers extensive port reach and enhanced service levels.

The global bank also said in a report that West Coast ports would only be able to handle less than 20% of cargo diverted from the East and Gulf coasts, while Mexico and Canada would offer almost no relief.

Pacific Northwest ports and their terminal operators say they are positioned to handle an extended period of discretionary cargo diversions if a strike by ILA dockworkers begins next week.

Ocean carriers and marine terminals allege the International Longshoremen’s Association is violating US labor law by refusing to return to contract negotiations that haven’t been held since June.

Drayage and trucking firms say they are busy pulling containers from East and Gulf coast ports, sending them across the US on rail networks while locating storage space ahead of the Oct. 1 strike date.

The $1 billion facility at the Port of Charleston has sat largely idle since its opening in 2021 amid a protracted dispute with the ILA over control of crane operator jobs.

The new network designs recently rolled out by ocean carriers will present shippers with quite an element of choice, and in turn ensure strong competitive pressure among the liners, writes Lars Jensen.

The facility, which is 30% owned by the Maersk terminal unit APM Terminals, is the largest relay port in the Gemini Asia-to-Europe hub-and-spoke network that aims to redefine the concept of container shipping reliability.

The plans come amid the increasing likelihood that the International Longshoremen’s Association will not reach an agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance on a new master contract covering East and Gulf coast dockworkers.

The railroads say they can store some export containers after the Oct 1 strike deadline, but exporters will also shoulder the responsibility for holding their cargo if a possible work stoppage drags on.

Because carriers don’t assess terminal handling charges in the US, any wage increase maritime employers agree to in longshore contract negotiations comes directly out of their pockets.

The union representing Montreal’s longshore workers is looking to ratchet up pressure on the port’s employers as the two sides are set to meet after a strike vote takes place.

Front-loaded cargo has dried up ahead of potential labor disruption on the East and Gulf coasts, putting heavy pressure on container spot rates from Asia.

The acquisition will significantly expand CMA CGM’s port reach into a region that is seeing robust demand.

Nearly 30 ships are bound for the Port of New York and New Jersey as marine terminals and ocean carriers prepare for a possible dockworker strike.

Despite record import volumes in August, marine terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are experiencing minimal congestion, with elevated rail container dwell times the only problem area.

Port users are concerned that if the technology and infrastructure needed to support a zero-emission environment is not built out, the industry’s only recourse will be to cap cargo volumes at Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The contingency plans by the ports come as some ocean carriers are cutting off new export bookings ahead of the possible work stoppage and issuing surcharges for cargo en route to ports that may be closed on Oct. 1.

The port, at the confluence of the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, is in the industrial heartland of Germany and a key transshipment point for intermodal cargo in Northern Europe.

The shippers were joined this time by a group of House Republicans, who in a separate letter warned of the “dire impacts” to the US economy from a possible port strike.

Hapag-Lloyd said in an advisory that ships were already waiting up to 60 hours to berth at Shanghai and up 48 hours to berth in Ningbo due to vessel bunching ahead of the storm.

Ports and ocean carriers are now figuring out the playbook for how to handle what would be the first strike to hit the US East and Gulf coasts in nearly half a century.

Carriers tell the Journal of Commerce they would prefer to avoid a strike and the lengthy operational upheaval a stoppage would cause along the East and Gulf coasts, but unlike in the past, they feel no urgency to get a deal done, writes Peter Tirschwell.

The report aims to bolster the case for heightened cyber-security efforts at US ports, which the congressmen who authored the report say are vulnerable to Chinese espionage.

As supply-demand dynamics rapidly shift back to the shipper side, all general rate increases and peak season surcharges that have failed to take off since early August are now being pushed to October.

As the threat of a US port strike approaches, the Biden administration must walk a particularly precarious line: Don’t upset union voters ahead of the presidential election while protecting the economy and an image of responsible economic stewardship.

The Global Port Tracker now projects US imports this month will hit 2.31 million TEUs, up 14% from the same month a year ago; last month’s report expected the year-over-year increase for September to be 6.5%.

The revised service plan from partners Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk includes scenarios via both the Cape of Good Hope and Suez Canal, with a decision due next month on which option will be chosen when the alliance launches in February.

East and Gulf coast maritime employers laid out their terms for signing a new contract with longshore workers, but they warned the ‘signal’ to strike is clear.