Bill Mongelluzzo, Associate Editor | Nov 03, 2011 2:19PM EDT
Cargo-handling operations at the Port of Oakland returned to normal Thursday morning following a night of disruptions from the Occupy Oakland movement.
The Port of Oakland was fully operational as of 11 a.m. “All entrances to the port are open. There are truck traffic lines at some gates, and terminal operations are processing backlogs from yesterday’s operations,” the port said in a news release.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union dispatch took place on schedule at 7 a.m. for an 8 a.m. start, ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees said. However, a small group of protesters continued to block access on the main road in the harbor area.
Richard Mead, president of ILWU Local 10, met with the protesters, thanked them for raising important issues and offered to buy them breakfast burritos. The protesters accepted Mead’s offer and traffic began to flow back to the terminals, Merrilees said.
Wednesday night’s demonstrations involving estimates that ranged up to 10,000 protesters resulted in no injuries, no property damage and no major security problems in the immediate port area, the Port of Oakland reported.
The port said the situation Thursday morning remained fluid, but seaport operations were partially resumed throughout the port.
Oakland, the nation’s fifth-largest port, handled 1.76 million 20-foot equivalent units of laden imports and exports last year, up 5.4 percent from a year earlier.
-- Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bmongelluzzo@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @billmongelluzzo.
