by Xinhua writer Huang Heng

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- When tens of thousands of dockworkers at East and Gulf Coast ports are on strike demanding better pay and a ban on the use of automated equipment, the West Coast ports in the United States are moving cargo as usual.

"The cargo is flowing smoothly here at the port of Los Angeles," Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, told the ABC 7 news channel Wednesday, one day after nearly 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) started their mass strike.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) covering more than 22,000 workers at 29 ports across the West Coast approved a six-year contract agreement with the Pacific Maritime Association on Aug. 31 last year after more than 13 months of negotiations that involved numerous port disputes and closures.

The deal, which was retroactive to July 1, 2022, includes a 32 percent pay increase over the span of the contract as well as a one-time bonus for working through the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ILWU's workers benefited from the deal are based at some of the nation's busiest seaports, including Los Angeles/Long Beach -- the busiest ocean trade gateway in the United States.

The West Coast ports' contract with the ILWU was good for another five years, Seroka noted, adding he didn't expect any direct impacts from the ILA's strike in the West yet.

"This is day one of a dockworkers' strike back east and on the Gulf Coast. We'll be watching it closely, but it's business as usual here at the port," Seroka said.

However, he warned that consumers could feel the impact of the strike in their wallets if both sides don't come to an agreement soon.

"There are specialty goods that come in, bananas, wine, products that need to get to market; so there will be impacts, but broadly," Seroka said. "American retailers brought a lot of cargo in ahead of time knowing that this could be a possibility."

Leal Sundet, the secretary treasurer of the ILWU's local representing workers in Portland port, told the Marketplace news website Thursday that cargo increased a couple of months prior to the actual strike since shipping companies had already been diverting cargo just in case of a strike.

"They bring the cargo on the West Coast and then they rail it to the East Coast," he said.

Marilyn Sandifur, spokesperson for the Port of Oakland, was quoted as saying that the demand spike wasn't much bigger than the normal holiday spike, so the port reacted to the strike calmly.

The report said that since the strike did not come in a peak season for the West Coast ports, which is normally from July to September, they were not overwhelmed by the strike-induced bump.

In the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the largest port complex in the country, cargo increase was more significant in August. The Long Beach port handled 913,000 shipping containers in the month, up 33.9 percent from the same month last year and surpassing the port's previous all-time one-month record set in May 2021 by 6,657 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs).

"The peak shipping season boosted the Port of Long Beach in August to its strongest month in its 113-year history as retailers moved cargo ahead of potential tariff increases and labor negotiations continued at seaports on the East and Gulf coasts," the port said in a monthly report.

Mario Cordero, CEO of the Port of Long Beach, admitted that there was cargo coming from other gateways. Meanwhile, he said Long Beach was operating at just about 70 percent capacity.

"We continue to be in close contact with our ocean carriers, terminal operators, railroads, equipment providers, and labor and industry partners to monitor the situation and to do our part to keep the national supply chain operational," the port said in a statement released last week on ILA/USMX contract negotiations.

However, the ABC 7's report said no cargo ship that normally docks in East or Gulf Coast ports had been redirected to the Port of Los Angeles so far.

"That's important because no union wants to take advantage of another while they're negotiating their contracts," Seroka added.

The Port of Los Angeles handled a near-record 960,597 TEUs in August, a 16 percent increase over the previous year. It was the busiest non-pandemic month ever at the port.

Eight months into 2024, the Port of Los Angeles was 17 percent ahead of its 2023 pace, already moving nearly 1 million more containers than last year. Enditem

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