Box Shipping Rates may fall as US Port Strikes Averted
Strikes at ports on the US East Coast and Gulf Coast, which would have caused an economic and supply chain crisis, have been called off – with ocean container freight rate growth now expected to slow or fall.The strikes were set to begin on 15 January and would have forced the closure of ports from Maine to Texas. This has now been averted after a tentative agreement over a new six-year master contract was reached between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), which represents port workers…
US Port Labor Talks to Resume on Tuesday
Contract talks covering 45,000 dockworkers on the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts are set to restart on Tuesday in a labor dispute that will help set the pace of automation at ports stretching from Maine to Texas.The International Longshoremen's Association wants to eliminate past labor contract concessions on automation - notably the use of semi-automated cranes that stack containers on docks - arguing they pose a threat to jobs.The United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) employer group…
US Dockworkers, USMX to Restart Contract Talks
The International Longshoremen's Association and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) are set to resume contract talks on Jan. 7, Bloomberg news reported on Thursday, citing a person familiar with the matter.Talks between the ILA, which represents more than 45,000 dockworkers across the U.S. East and Gulf coast ports, and the employer group are at an impasse over issues related to automation at port terminals.Both parties signed a tentative deal in October, which gave workers a 62% wage hike over six years…
Trump Signals Support for ILA Dockworkers
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday appeared to back the anti-automation stance of some 45,000 union dockworkers on the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts, whose labor talks are at an impasse over that polarizing issue.The ILA and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) employer group are facing a Jan. 15 deadline to finalize talks, which stalled over automation. That cutoff comes just five days before Trump's inauguration.The ILA says automation kills jobs while employers say it is necessary to keep U.S.
