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Any longshoremen or dock workers on the barf?

C

Cereal KLR

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Now that the "slow down" is from Seattle to Long Beach what is the sticking point in contract negotiations ?


The sea containers are stacked to the moon and Iz waiting on parts dammit.:mad
 
I'll answer any question I can, as soon as this turns into a union bashing exercise I will stop.

First off, you think there is a "slowdown". This is for two reasons, one is we have a "working speed" that everyone has gotten used to. Now some people are working to the letter of our Marine Safety Code, which has the effect of slowing things down as is deemed safe by both parties (ILWU & PMA).
Second is the fact that PMA (the employer basically), has stopped dispatching jobs for the night shift, with exception to places like Hawaii, and Guam. (Who's really slowing things down?)
 
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:laughing

I go through hell every 2 weeks with our shipments coming in. At least most of the freight forwarding places are easing up on the storage fees.
 
Last I counted there were no less than 8 container ships in Anchorage 9, and our yard was full of Imports/Exports/Empties to the extent that truckers were told to take their empties elsewhere and they couldn't drop off exports early.
 
No bashing either side, slow down is media speak when they can't explain ( or won't ) what's going on.

Thanks for the info:thumbup
 
I thought it was pent-up consumer demand being supplied after gas and oil price reductions put money in everybody's pockets, plus job growth. The balance of machine and man can only work so fast is my amateur perception. It we weren't using a fixed amount of automated cranes lifting containers, rather than the old days of hooks and freight, we could use day labor, right?
 
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Bay Arean said:
I thought it was pent-up consumer demand being supplied after gas and oil price reductions put money in everybody's pockets. Unwillingness to diminish existing labor force and balance by overhiring?
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Are you asking a question ?
 
Yeah. It's just too much stuff coming, right? I edited out first post because I realize the technology itself prevents human labor making a dent....THough you did mention night shift possible reduction...
 
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I believe it is more than just a bunch of stuff coming in. There are ongoing contract negotiations betwixt the union and the owners, and from what my updates tell me they aren't going swimmingly.
 
Every delay has a ripple effect, the schedules have gotten so tight that truckers show up for a load before it's released by USDA or CBP. Bad weather used to delay a arrival by a shift or two, and we could cut the number of empties loaded to keep the schedule. Now things have tightened up and those margins are slim.

Bigger ships = less trips = cargo has fewer choices to get here.

So weather, OWS, trucker strikes, employers bungling equipment availability, longshore deaths, port power outages, all contribute to delay a small pool of ships making that 7 day voyage. This delay can snowball and it is not even peak season (Fall).
 
mean dad said:
I believe it is more than just a bunch of stuff coming in. There are ongoing contract negotiations betwixt the union and the owners, and from what my updates tell me they aren't going swimmingly.
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True, see post #2, labor has no incentive to work beyond minimum efficiency if management dicks around (ie going on vacation during negotiations).
 
Not trying to be a fly in the ointment but, this really is the shit for the agricultural export business. Some of the nut processors are shipping product overland to Houston or other ports to get product out of the country to buyers. I'm waiting for two containers from Spain that are delayed two weeks, and I believe they are just out making circles in the Pacific waiting to be unloaded. Then they will still need to go thru the USDA, which I'm sure is backed up.
I'd think that anyone that is shipping a food product with an expiration date via container just lost a bunch of $. The dropping euro since things have been delayed is also going to cut into exporters revenue.

I've never really understood the complex mechanism that is our ports with demurrage fees, pick up time delays, etc. If something doesn't go as planned there usually is large fee to pay. To me as the user of services, it seem that there is either not enough capacity, or it is not run in an efficient or organized manner. From my end we've always are given a very tight loading/unloading schedule, so we need to be very organized to make the ships schedule or we get hammered by fees.

I've always wanted to go out there and see what is going on for myself - plus it would be really cool to see all the big ships and the piles and piles of containers!

Glad someone asked about this, I have always wondered what was going on in the "container black hole".

Edit: just heard from our logistics department - not my product, but items for the other plant are in China and Russia because the ships didn't get unloaded in Oakland, guess they will be here on the back haul. And this is starting to clog up Houston and he East Coast.
 
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Few places are as big as LA/LB who aren't so much "Pro Labor" as they are "Pro LA/LB", but if you piss them off then it does effect the entire West Coast (Oakland is the fastest, LA/LB is the volume), which in turn effects the Pacific and so on.

The Shipping Companies make money while under way, and "loose" money if the ship is in port. So Jo-Blo needs to have every "t" crossed and "i" dotted as to not hold up Aponte, Onassis, and the like. If you have a freight forwarder, they are just middlemen so your emergency isn't theirs.
 
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Some local reasons for delays they wont tell you.

Overloaded containers.
 

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this thread is turning out to be almost as cool as the ebmud poo plant insider thread. Very cool insight fawndog
 
Impressive backup at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma as well. Saw five major cargo ships anchored off Seattle yesterday, and according to the guys at the base, they haven't moved in weeks.
 
fawndog said:
Some local reasons for delays they wont tell you.

Overloaded containers.
Click to expand...

I may have or not have sent some your direction last year that sprung a leak or two on the road to the Port.

Thanks or the info., lots of good information here.
 
All I know, is that Traders Joes was out of bananas yesterday :mad
 
planegray said:
All I know, is that Traders Joes was out of bananas yesterday :mad
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Here's a interesting note. Bananas come refrigerated, refers are serviced all over the world. R134 is expensive so guess what ? Knock off R134 was coming out of China (bastards will counterfeit anything), this gas was destroying compressors and related reefer parts. Not only was it bad for the equipment, once it mixed with R134 it became explosive. The short of it is 3 people died overseas, and one local guy got burned servicing these dangerous units. The problem pointed to a service depot in Vietnam and once they hit the West Coast we quarantined hundreds of these units until they could be tested and retrofitted.

ps. I never see Motoproponet on-dock anymore (too smart to shuffle cones and drive the Xray rig). :teeth
 

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