Month: <span>February 2023</span>

Following yesterday’s news that negotiations between US west coast terminal operators and dockers had reached agreement on some issues, the International Longshoremen & Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association broke their silence to reassure industry stakeholders that talks were continuing.

They emphasised that the long process (negotiations to renew the labour contract began last May) had not disrupted port operations and expressed hope of “reaching a deal soon”.

However, stakeholders have shown impatience, warning it could result in permanent loss of cargo flowing through the west coast ports, which likely impelled the two sides to speak.

They said a tentative deal had been reached on “certain key issues, including health benefits”, and expressed their commitment to resolve the other points “as expeditiously as possible”.

But observers are not convinced this will happen soon. One industry executive said no progress had been made on the critical issue of automation, nor on the controversy over cold ironing at the port of Seattle that derailed talks for months.

The glacial pace also raises concerns about contract talks on the east coast, where the master contract between union International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the US Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents ocean carriers and terminals, is set to expire next year.

On top of familiar issues like automation, pay and benefits, there is the dispute over work allocation at Charleston’s Leatherman terminal, which has affected operations at the South Carolina port. Since the $1bn terminal opened in 2021, the ILA and Ports South Carolina have been in dispute.

The bone of contention is who is eligible to operate cranes and lift equipment. The ILA argues this has to be performed by union members, in line with the master contract for all east and Gulf coast ports. SC Ports maintains it is not party to that agreement and has a long-standing policy under which non-union state employees work cranes and lift equipment, while ILA members perform all other jobs.

“Each side believes its position is right,” commented an industry executive close to the situation, which has escalated into a legal battle.

The port has enjoyed strong growth, which boosted its throughput to 2.8m teu last year, and it has invested a lot of money to accommodate further growth. Last summer, it strengthened the wharf, brought in taller cranes and improved the container yard at the Waldo Welch container terminal, broke ground on an intermodal facility with a capacity of one million rail lifts in phase one and launched a pool of 13,000 chassis. It has also invested in deepening the harbour to 16 metres.

It is expected that the Leatherman dispute will be on the table in the ILA-USMX contract negotiations, and some stakeholders hope the talks will resolve the issue, sparing everybody a lengthy legal battle that could go all the way to the Supreme Court.

On the other hand, there is concern the issue will complicate the contract negotiations and delay any agreement.

But even without an additional stumbling block, the talks should be challenging – although both sides have expressed “mutual respect and willingness to find a compromise”.

“There are big issues on the table,” said one observer, pointing to the thorny issue of automation. “Ports need the ability to handle more cargo without building new facilities.”

The dispute has caused one move at Charleston so far: At the end of last month, Hapag-Lloyd announced it was shifting its calls to the Wando Welch terminal, after, according to some sources, experiencing some fallout from the situation in Charleston at other US ports.

Source:

Putzger, I. (2023, February 24). Labour talks casting long shadows over ports on us coasts. The Loadstar. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from https://theloadstar.com/labour-talks-casting-long-shadows-over-ports-on-us-coasts/

NEGOTIATIONS between the International Longshore Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association have remained deadlocked due to jurisdictional disputes in Seattle’s terminal 5, Lloyd’s List understands.

The ILWU and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers are feuding over who performs certain work in the newly-reopened terminal, and the former is holding up the contract negotiations with the PMA until the situation is resolved, people familiar with the matter told Lloyd’s List.

The ILWU did not respond to a request for comment.

Talks ground to a halt in September when terminal operator and PMA member SSA filed a complaint with the National Labour Relations Board against the ILWU after its dockworkers refused to work a Mediterranean Shipping Company ship that called at the terminal.

The vessel was set to be the first to be plugged into the terminal’s shorepower, and the work of plugging it in — known as cold ironing — had been assigned to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

While talks have resumed since the summer, little progress has been made since negotiations began, Lloyd’s List understands. The sides have not yet began discussing the key issues of wages, benefits, and automation.

The ILWU is trying to get the PMA to help resolve the jurisdictional dispute, one person familiar with the matter said, although the association has no influence on the NLRB, which is an independent federal agency.

The labour board is currently reviewing three different cases tied to the IAM-ILWU terminal 5 spat and will probably make a ruling on all of them around the same time, IAM assistant directing business representative Don Crosatto told Lloyd’s List. He estimated it could take up to six months for the board to decide the cases, but that any decision will likely get appealed by the losing side.

In addition to the cold ironing case, the ILWU has appealed the labour board’s 2020 ruling that assigned maintenance and repair works in the Seattle’s terminal 5 with the machinists’ union, Mr Crosatto said.

He estimated that cold-ironing work in the terminal is worth only about 12 weekly hours, and said that the ILWU’s dispute over it was merely a play to get the whole terminal, which currently employs about 25 mechanics.

Mr Crosatto said the work belongs with the machinists’ union because the terminal’s crane mechanics, who are the only workers suitable to perform it, are represented by them.

“[E]verywhere it’s done, it’s done by the crane mechanics. If they’re ILWU crane mechanics, they do it; if we have the crane mechanics, our guys do it. But its always done by crane mechanics.”

Documents obtained through a freedom of information request by Augusta Saraiva of Bloomberg News show that MSC filed a motion with the NLRB in October to intervene on the ILWU’s behalf in the cold-ironing case.

Mr Crosatto said the filing is an attempt by MSC to placate the ILWU and that several points made in it actually support the IAM’s claims.

“Whoever wrote the letter didn’t think about what they were actually saying,” he said.

According to the filing, MSC is the only carrier whose vessels called at the terminal since it reopened in January 2022.

The labour contract, which covers over 22,000 dockworkers in 29 west coast ports, expired in July, and negotiations on extending it began in May.

The prolonged, fruitless talks have led many shippers to divert their cargo to east and Gulf coast ports amid fears of industrial action. About 85% of the Port of New York and New Jersey’s gains in 2022 are estimated to be cargo diverted from the west coast.

Imports to the west coast declined substantially in the second half of 2022 compared with previous years as a result of the uncertainty.

The largest west coast ports – Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Tacoma, and Seattle, saw imports drop by a combined 7.9% compared with the second half of 2019.

The port of Los Angeles — typically the nation’s largest port — lost the monthly title to the port of New York and New Jersey from August through November, although it has regained it in December.

From August through December, throughput at the port of Los Angeles dropped below its five-year monthly average. The same was true for Long Beach between October and December.

Source:

Raanan, T. (2023, February 1). West coast labour negotiations still stuck over Seattle strife. Lloyd’s List. Retrieved February 6, 2023, from https://lloydslist.maritimeintelligence.informa.com/LL1143788/West-coast-labour-negotiations-still-stuck-over-Seattle-strife