Not to rain on anyone's parade who is expecting delivery of a new car. But there is a labor disruption on the entire west coast of the USA.


Yesterday, eleven vessels were anchored waiting to unload at Los Angeles and Long Beach. Normally, there are no ships at anchor unless a vessel arrives early. In Oakland, the ILWU sent dockworkers home and shut down the terminal claiming insufficient labour on site. In Portland, Seattle and Tacoma, the situation is no different as multiple vessels remain waiting to unload at the terminals and truckers are lined up waiting for containers.

The ILWU is accused of work slowdown tactics causing the worst congestion that US West Coast ports have seen in a decade. The crisis comes as labour negotiations between the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association have dragged on past the June 30 expiration of their last contract.

Union officials deny any orchestrated work slowdowns or protests, however they acknowledge that individual dockworkers may be acting out of frustration over the overdue contract. The union blames other factors for the extreme congestion such as peak season, record level imports and more super-sized ships arriving at the same time.

The current situation raises fear that a full blown strike or lockout could occur closing ports on the west coast and causing severe economic impact just before the holiday season.



I suppose they will just unload on the east coast and ship by train. it will add a week or so.


Sorry.

 

Back in 1972 when I was in college, my friend from Spain, had his specially race prepared Mini Cooper shipped to Los Angeles during the infamous Longshoreman's strike that crippled shipping on the entire west coast for a couple of months! Ships were parked outside of all west coast ports like in a parking lot. Eventually, the ships unloaded in Vancouver, Canada, and he flew up, picked up his car, and drove it down to L.A. where it was promptly stolen a few weeks later.

There is the potential for prolongued delays if the labor agreements are not reached soon.

 

That isn't the only labor disruption at play here. This drama has been unfolding in the old kingdom:

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/13/jaguar-land-rover-three-year-pay-deal