Longshore labor

F. Paul De Maria will become the new CEO of the group representing ocean carriers and marine terminal operators at East and Gulf coast ports.

Canada’s labor minister will take a direct hand after the mediated talks for a new longshore contract at the port failed to achieve a deal after 18 months of negotiations.

Montreal’s port chief says a successful outcome after nearly two years of talks between port employers and the longshore union will be critical to restoring shipper trust.

Ports across the continent are struggling to clear bottlenecks as containers stack up in terminals and delay inland and feeder connections.

Labor peace at US East and Gulf coast ports is now ensured through September 2030 after the union’s rank and file approved the new labor agreement.

Sources tell the Journal of Commerce the union will convene a midweek meeting in Florida of its local wage scale committees across the 14 ports under its jurisdiction.

While the draft language of the tentative agreement was not disclosed, the two sides said the deal includes language that covers the contentious issue of port automation and new technologies.

While the two sides have come to terms on wages, formal negotiations have stalled since mid-November as the union and maritime employers remain stuck on what provisions the deal will include about port automation.

The risk of an East and Gulf coast port strike, US tariffs on China, and service disruptions through the launch of new alliances and networks await the industry in the first two months of 2025, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

One additional risk to a threatened strike at US East and Gulf Coast ports, which the container shipping industry did not have in October, is that the potential disruption would come just as new alliance networks are to be phased in, writes analyst Lars Jensen.

The union’s hardline stance against the further encroachment of automation at US ports received a big boost with the incoming administration saying maritime employers should look to labor to increase capacity and efficiency.

A statement posted by the president-elect on social media Thursday made it clear he stood with the International Longshoremen’s Association and their opposition to automation at ports along the East and Gulf coasts.

Rail-mounted gantry cranes can reduce labor requirements and significantly increase the throughput of marine terminals, but those gains still come at a steep cost, listeners of the Journal of Commerce’s Port Performance North America webcast heard.

A consortium of six national labor groups, representing thousands of dockworkers in the country, was to launch an indefinite industrial action from Dec. 17 without the deal.

Carrier executives who dominate the board of the United States Maritime Alliance tell the Journal of Commerce they are done with what they consider to be an overly passive approach demonstrated in recent months by USMX staff in the face of repeated provocations by ILA leadership.

Various labor groups representing dockworkers at the country’s 12 public gateways have threatened to strike if the government fails to follow through on a wage agreement due to financial strains.

The union representing 45,000 longshore workers along the East and Gulf coasts is seeking to block technology that management says is critical for land-constrained ports to handle larger ships.

The selection of Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer is seen as favorable to unions, with the new administration potentially facing the need to intervene if ILA contract talks aren’t settled before Trump takes office.

The move effectively allows both sides to avoid having to agree to a deal brokered by Ottawa, as had been ordered by the country’s labor minister.

While the presidential campaign is no longer a factor, the new Trump administration will likely be similarly disinterested in a strike of any significant length and, it can be assumed, will get directly involved in talks.

Dockworkers in British Columbia, as well as Montreal, say Labor Minister Steve MacKinnon’s order to accept binding arbitration goes against their rights under Canada’s constitution.

The union representing about 45,000 dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports says employers want to eliminate jobs by implementing semi-automated technology at marine terminals.

Canada’s Labor Minister requires management and unions to submit to binding arbitration and orders that ports reopen after a series of strikes and lockouts effectively halted container operations across the country.

Coast-to-coast work stoppages at Canadian ports have ground container operations to a halt, with port employers saying their best offers for new dockworker contracts are on the table.

The disruptions coming out of disagreements during port work contract negotiations in North America have intensified, as seen currently in Western Canada and Montreal, and possibly again on the US East and Gulf coasts come mid-January.

The work stoppage along Canada’s West Coast has also shut down rail operations, with CN suspending westbound rail service to British Columbia ports and CPKC halting acceptance of export and empty containers for the province.

Maritime employers say they will commence a lockout of the longshore foremen after their union began a threatened strike Monday morning, a move that will force marine terminals in the province to close.

Vancouver, Canada’s busiest container port, faces the possibility of a shutdown unless maritime employers and longshore foremen reach a new contract before a Monday deadline.

The Viau and Maisonneuve marine terminals closed to ship, rail and truck traffic Thursday morning as members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 375, which represents 1,200 dockworkers at Montreal, walked off the job.

While conventional retailers were decreasing their orders, the growth of e-commence shipments from Asia was more consistent as elevated air cargo rates pushed more shippers to move goods via ocean transport, the carrier’s CEO said.

The port will see almost half of its container capacity go offline beginning Thursday as the local longshore union declares an unlimited strike against two of Montreal’s largest marine terminals.

Maritime employers and the longshore union representing dockworkers along the US East and Gulf coasts will restart negotiations in New Jersey next month, with automation the main issue at hand.

The Port of Montreal’s maritime employers warn that even a brief strike will add to shipper uncertainty over routing cargo through the port given other recent job actions taken by the union.

The ruling from the Canada Industrial Relations Board said union longshore foremen moved too late in raising the issue of automation’s impact on jobs at the Port of Vancouver.

A report from the US Governmental Accountability Office shows the possible, but narrow, path for adoption of automation at US ports as maritime employers and longshore labor along the East and Gulf coasts attempt to hammer out a new master contract.

The port’s main container terminals are among the facilities affected by the overtime strike that Montreal’s dockworkers have deployed as part of contentious contract negotiations.

Barbara Melvin says 2024 hit Charleston in unexpected ways, but the full reopening of the Leatherman terminal was a major achievement for the port’s future expansion.

While longshore wages will not increase until a formal contract is signed, the container shipping industry is starting to tally up the billions in new costs that will come with the almost 62% wage hike, according to a Journal of Commerce analysis

Carriers began pulling the charges shortly after the end of the strike was announced last week, while pressure to do so came even earlier from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Some have speculated that specific issues were raised that persuaded at least some of the carrier group CEOs to direct their representatives on the USMX to boost their offer of a pay increase.