Occupy Protest Disruptions Limited to Oakland

The Port of Oakland was the only port along the West Coast to report significant disruptions Monday morning after Occupy movement protesters tried to shut down marine terminals along the entire coast.

The Occupy movements at most West Coast port cities announced earlier this month that they would hold demonstrations and would attempt to shut down the ports. The disruptions varied in effectiveness, however, because of the unique geography of each port.

About 1,000 protestors gathered at one entrance of the Port of Oakland, blocking traffic, triggering a long backup of trucks and effectively stopping cargo from moving to and from several terminals. 

The Port of Oakland said in a statement at mid-day the TRAPAC, TTI and SSA/OICT terminals had decided to close for the day. Oakland said the gate at Ports America was closed but they would move cargo if police cleared protesters from the entrance. The APL and Matson terminals were fully operational, the port said. 

The port is shaped like a horseshoe, so one of the two entrances to the harbor was effectively shut off, said Jim McKenna, president of the Pacific Maritime Association, the employer’s group that represents terminal operators and shipping lines. McKenna said the strategy of the demonstrators appeared to be to congregate in front of one terminal at a time.

As a result, PMA instructed its member terminals to order longshore labor Monday morning based on whether or not the terminal could provide access for longshoremen. Also, some terminals would order labor based on specific functions, such as to work a vessel, but possibly not for other terminal activities, McKenna said.

There are 14 container terminals in Los Angeles-Long Beach harbor, but demonstrators focused only on the Pacific Container Terminal operated by SSA Marine, a port spokesman said. The Occupy movement has said would target SSA Marine facilities on the West Coast because the Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs is an investor in the company.

Several hundred protestors gathered at the south gate of PCT, but longshoremen entered the facility through the north gate, said port spokesman Art Wong. He said there were no apparent protests at other Long Beach terminals.

There were no protests Monday morning in the entire Port of Los Angeles, said port spokesman Phillip Sanfield. Port police and other low enforcement agencies were stationed around the port in case something happened.