Port of Oakland delays: 'Absolute madness’ threatens business
“The problems we’re seeing now are greater than any we have seen in the past 20 years,” said Cory Peters, vice president of drayage operations at Manteca’s Gardner Trucking, one of the dozens of trucking companies transporting containers in and out of the port daily.
At root is a system in which steamship lines, terminal operators, subcontractors, import and export companies, trucking companies, drivers and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union operate in what might politely be called silos, often with conflicting interests.
Drawn-out contract negotiations between the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association, representing the shippers at 29 West Coast ports, interspersed by walkouts and slowdowns, haven’t helped matters.
“We’ve gotten more stacked up over the past couple of weeks, with schedules all over the place,” said Beth Frisher, manager of business development and international marketing at the Port of Oakland.
The Port of Oakland, like ports in Southern California and elsewhere on the West Coast, serves as the landlord, leasing terminals to private operators, providing and maintaining facilities and marketing the port’s assets (deep water, road and rail transit, gateway to Asia) to potential customers the world over.
Measures include extending operating hours, opening gates at night, reconfiguring container yards to improve cargo flow, having the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office help manage traffic outside the gate, and meeting with truckers and shippers to see what else the port can do.
Union officials say congestion is endemic and has made working conditions much more dangerous.
“West Coast ports have been congested nearly all year, with the labor dispute exacerbating the problem only in the past few weeks,” said Jock O’Connell, an international trade analyst at Beacon Economics in Los Angeles and editor of the monthly California Trade Report.
Fruit for export rotting on Washington state trees for want of access to an outbound steamer; Christmas trees from the Pacific Northwest not getting to Asia this season because a jammed-up Port of Tacoma turned them away; 2,600 tons of frozen french fries destined for the McDonald’s Japanese market flown by air and shipped via East Coast ports; “congestion surcharges” imposed by shipping companies on exporters and importers; similar charges imposed by truck companies for the hours-long delays at the terminals.
“Probably the most serious consequence of the congestion is the damage being done to the reputations of U.S. West Coast ports as reliable and efficient gateways for trans-Pacific trade,” said O’Connell.
“There is a growing danger that West Coast ports may see not only a drop in market share but an actual decline in volume,” he said.
Craig Merillees, communications director for ILWU Local 10 in San Francisco, said, “Occasional conflicts between workers on the docks are the results of terrible inequities and injustices created by the employers who exploit and profit from these differences.”