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ILA ratifies new six-year deal with higher entry pay, automation protection

Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) have approved a new six-year master contract covering US East and Gulf coast ports that not only includes a hefty raise for all dockworkers but an even higher salary bump for new hires. The new contract is retroactive to Oct. 1, 2024, and will be in effect until Sept. 30, 2030. It will be signed in the next two weeks.

While the union secured further protections against automation, maritime employers won room for efficiency gains through remote operation of terminal equipment and the use of operator assistance technology at ports.

The ILA said late Tuesday that a majority of its 45,000 registered members ratified the new contract that was tentatively agreed to in early January between union leadership and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX).

ILA President Harold Daggett said in a statement the contract, which involved three years of negotiations and a three-day strike last October, is a “gold standard” for labor thanks to its wage and benefit increases and protections against technology that could impact labor.

“The ILA stayed strong and unified throughout and successfully won the greatest contract in ILA history and maybe the strongest collective bargaining agreement ever negotiated by any union,” Daggett said.

The ILA highlighted the 62% wage increase as measured against the contract’s top wage tier, equating to an average $4 per hour raise for all dockworkers during the contract’s term. But the contract also includes other wage concessions that mean the lowest-paid longshore workers will receive even larger percentage wage increases.

The starting wage for first-year longshore workers goes from $20 per hour to $27 under the new six-year agreement. By 2026, the starting wage will increase to $30 per hour. The new contract also includes four wage tiers instead of the six under the previous master contract, allowing longshore workers to climb up the pay scale faster.

A marine terminal source familiar with the new contract says that the higher starting wage means a 35% increase for new longshore workers in the first year alone.

The contract is expected to be formally signed on March 10.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source:

Angell, M. (2025, February 26). Ila ratifies new six-year deal with higher entry pay, automation protection. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/ila-ratifies-new-six-year-deal-with-higher-entry-pay-automation-protection-5951338

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Strikes, storms and record volumes adding to North Europe port delays

The significant volumes of exports that left China in December are continuing to arrive at European ports, compounding existing congestion caused by a series of severe winter storms and labor action at key hubs.

Data from Container Trades Statistics (CTS) shows China-to-North Europe volume in December increased 17.6% year over year to a one-month record of 835,000 TEUs.

“CTS registers those volumes at the time of export, so these containers started arriving in Europe in the second half of January and into February given the current average transit time of around 45 days, contributing to increasing congestion,” Emily Stausbøll, senior shipping analyst at rate benchmarking platform Xeneta, told the Journal of Commerce.

Barbara Eleota, senior vice president of ocean freight at DHL Global Forwarding Europe, said the high container volume would increase congestion at some European ports.

”Current delays in North Europe and UK ports, including five to seven days in Le Havre and up to a week in Belgium, are expected to worsen,” she told the Journal of Commerce.

“Customers may experience delays of up to a week, necessitating extended buffer windows in their planning. Ongoing disruptions, such as voided sailings, weather issues and labor challenges further affect scheduling consistency,” she added.

As arrival volume from China rises, strike action at Hutchison Port Delta II in Rotterdam over a new collective bargaining agreement is causing significant disruption, according to Maersk, with a temporary suspension of operations at the terminal adding to the existing congestion at Europe’s busiest port.

“Due to the strike action and slowdown of operations, there will be a reduced number of moves per hour conducted at the terminal for an unknown duration … prolonging the time vessels are operated on and significantly disrupting their normal schedules,” Maersk said in a customer advisory Tuesday.

The carrier said it had contingency plans in place and may offer customers “alternative options” to the Rotterdam terminal.

Extreme weather from the Atlantic moved across the English Channel to mainland Europe in late January with multiple high wind warnings issued in Hamburg, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Le Havre and Dunkirk in addition to Felixstowe and Southampton. Cargo handling was suspended during the storms and terminals have been scrambling to catch up on the backlogs of containers.

Details please refer to JOC news.

Source:

Knowler, G. (2025, February 11). Strikes, storms and record volumes adding to North Europe port delays. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/strikes-storms-and-record-volumes-adding-to-north-europe-port-delays-5942119

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Stakeholders say choked NY-NJ marine terminals creating delays at port

Marine terminals at the Port of New York and New Jersey are seeing bouts of severe congestion due to a variety of factors that include heavy import volumes, holiday scheduling and bad weather. The congestion is currently making it difficult for truckers to return empty containers and puts shippers at risk for late fees on empty returns and import retrievals.

Hapag-Lloyd said in an operational update Monday that “ongoing terminal congestion in the New York/New Jersey area [is] impacting carriers, terminals, depots, truckers and customers industry-wide.” The ocean carrier said it is looking for additional storage sites for containers and waiving late fees on boxes in the hope that “fluidity will be restored in the coming weeks.”

Hapag-Lloyd’s advisory follows a poll released last week by the New Jersey-based Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers that showed close to two-thirds of drayage truckers believe the empty return situation at the port is a “crisis that must be addressed immediately.”

“Marine terminals are packed to the gills with empties,” Bi-State Motor Carriers President Lisa Yakomin told the Journal of Commerce.

The majority of truckers polled by Bi-State said they are unable to get appointments to return empty containers or complete a “double move” to retrieve an import container due to restrictions on returning empties.

Most truckers also reported that shippers are incurring extra chassis charges and late fees for storing empties and the congestion is hampering truckers from retrieving imports.

The congestion hits as the NY-NJ port comes off a strong year of growth. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) reported 11% year-over-year growth in import volumes for 2024, its busiest year since 2021.

The volume of imports at the port appears to have built up strongly last month, crowding out room for empties. The average weekly inventory of import containers at NY-NJ reached 31,933 in January, compared with about 25,000 in both December and November, according to PANYNJ data.

The dwell time on import containers averaged 3.9 days during January, up from an average of 3.5 days during December and November. The standard terminal tariff at NY-NJ provides four days of free time on an import, suggesting shippers are running closer to incurring demurrage due to the delays.

Details please refer to JOC news.

Source:

Angell, M. (2025, February 11). Stakeholders say choked NY-NJ marine terminals creating delays at port. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/stakeholders-say-choked-ny-nj-marine-terminals-creating-delays-at-port-5942356

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ILA officials to meet next week as ratification of USMX deal looms

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) next week is expected to start a month-long process of selling its members on the new collective bargaining agreement with maritime employers. The process ends two years of fraught labor negotiations and now ensures six years of labor peace at US East and Gulf coast ports.

Three sources familiar with the situation have told the Journal of Commerce the ILA will convene a midweek meeting in Florida of its local wage scale committees across the 14 ports under its jurisdiction.

The meeting will be called to review terms of the six-year agreement on a new master contract after four days of talks in New Jersey.

The wage scale committees will then present terms of the coastwide master contract, along with port-specific contracts, to local union members. A full vote by the roughly 45,000 registered ILA members at East and Gulf coast ports is expected to take place near the end of February, with March the first full pay period under the new agreement.

The United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) board of directors reportedly approved the contract during a vote Wednesday, according to the sources.

Both the ILA and USMX declined to comment on the ratification process.

Source:

Angell, M. (2025, January 31). ILA officials to meet next week as ratification of USMX deal looms. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/ila-officials-to-meet-next-week-as-ratification-of-usmx-deal-looms-5934580