8 April (Lloyd's List) - NORMAL operations resumed in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on Friday evening, a day after labour disruptions forced terminals in the US’ largest container gateway to shut down.

Dockworkers returned for Friday evening’s shift after largely missing the previous two, ending what was arguably the most disruptive incident since the west coast labour contract expired in July.

Negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, representing west coast dockworkers, and the Pacific Maritime Association, representing shipping employers, have been ongoing since May last year, but have reportedly made little progress since the summer.

While the ILWU and the PMA agreed early in the negotiations not to engage in strikes or lockouts, reports of disruptions have increasingly surfaced as the talks dragged on.

Meanwhile, uncertainty arising from the stalled talks and fears of industrial action have led shippers to divert substantial cargo volumes from the west coast to east and Gulf coast ports. 

The latest disruption coincided with the swearing-in of a new president for ILWU Local 13, which represents the dockworkers in Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The PMA accused the union’s local membership of taking a concerted action to withhold labour at the ports, and said its actions “effectively shut down the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.”

The union for its part said in a statement that thousands of its members were attending a monthly membership meeting on Thursday evening where the new president, Gary Herrera, was sworn in. On Friday, it said, members who observe religious holidays “took the opportunity to celebrate with their families.”

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach handled nearly 20m teu combined last year, although cargo volumes have fallen substantially so far this year from the pandemic’s peak. On average the ports move close to 50,000 teu per day in April, based on 2018-2022 volumes.

The Southern California Marine Exchange reported that the disruption had a minimal impact on vessel backlogs, with just one ship delaying its arrival. While that might pale in comparison to the extreme supply chain chaos of last April, many shippers were nonetheless substantially impacted by the unforeseen shutdown.

“Starting yesterday, agriculture exporters started feeling the pain, reporting terminals were closed. Immediately, our agriculture exporters have been dramatically injured,” Agriculture Transportation Coalition chief executive Peter Friedmann said in statement Friday. 

Mr Friedmann quoted one of the coalition’s members who reported incurring about $20,000 in costs stemming from the shutdown, erasing any profit from the international sale, and turning it into a substantial loss. 

“This highly damaging experience is being repeated for thousands of containers, as all agriculture exporters are scrambling to survive this disruption. The example above is significant, but is the tip of the iceberg; it does not capture the costs of the current terminal closures for many other agriculture exporters.

“Agriculture has few options to remain globally competitive when WC ports are not open and operating efficiently. To gain and retain foreign customers for our agriculture, our marine terminals must be not only efficient but dependable. They must be open every day, all day. Ag exporters (and our foreign customers) must not have to worry about sporadic port closures, for any reason.”

The National Retail Federation also stressed the negative impact of the terminal closures and reiterated calls for Joe Biden administration to intervene in the stalled contract negotiations.

“Retailers throughout the country depend on US ports to support their daily business needs. The West Coast ports, especially those in Los Angeles and Long Beach, are a pivotal entry point to the US that allow American consumers access to global products and essential goods,” NRF senior vice president of Government Relations David French said in a statement.