ASSOCIATED PRESS
The ship Northern Lights, owned and operated by Totem Ocean Trailer Express, was loaded yesterday in Tacoma, Wash. The Pacific Maritime Association agreed to hire longshoremen to load Alaska-bound cargo ships with groceries, household goods and other products because of Alaska's dependence on cargo from the Port of Tacoma.
Shippers permit Hawaii officials, hoping to receive an exemption from the West Coast port lockout similar to Alaska's, had their wish granted last night when the Pacific Maritime Association unanimously passed a resolution to provide relief from the six-day shutdown.
Hawaii delivery
But for the agreement to take effect,
the longshore union must not slow workBy Dave Segal
dsegal@starbulletin.comThe exemption, however, is conditional on the International Longshore & Warehouse Union agreeing to conduct normal operations and not engage in a work slowdown.
"We're making good progress," said Jackie Kido, director of communications for Gov. Ben Cayetano. "Pending ILWU approval, the first ships would load (this) evening. The governor is very encouraged and optimistic."
ILWU spokesman Steve Stallone could not be reached for comment last night. However, the ILWU had offered earlier to work ships involving Hawaii and Alaska because of the states' dwindling supply of essential goods.
"We have yet to have the opportunity to meet with the union, so we haven't received the assurances yet," PMA spokesman Steve Sugerman said last night. "But we're confident, given the needs of Hawaii, that the union will agree to normal operations at the terminal so we can provide that service."
Talks between the two sides broke off late last night, with "some" progress being made, mediator Peter Hurtgen said. They are scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. San Francisco time.
President Bush, though, is considering the appointment of a board of inquiry to determine the economic impact of the shutdown -- a potential first step toward ordering workers back to their jobs under the Taft-Hartley Act.
Two senior Bush administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the president has not decided to deepen his involvement in the port shutdown and is reluctant to intervene because the 1947 law has a poor record of success and is politically sensitive.
But they said the president and his advisers are studying whether to appoint a board of inquiry. Such a panel would determine within days whether the lockout is hurting the U.S. economy and whether the parties are negotiating in good faith. Bush then would have to make his case in federal court, asking for a ruling to end the lockout for an 80-day cooling-off period.
If the ILWU gives the green light today to load Hawaii-bound ships, consumers and businesses can expect to see the first shipments of cargo arriving by the end of next week.
"Realistically, it would be six to seven days before you could get the first ship here," said Brian Taylor, vice president and general manager of Hawaii-Guam for CSX. "I suspect the CSX Consumer (which is in Los Angeles) would be the first to arrive. It has been partially unloaded and partially loaded and is waiting at the pier to continue."
CSX also has the CSX Trader and the CSX Reliance in Tacoma, Wash., and the CSX Navigator in Oakland, Calif. The CSX Enterprise is due to arrive in Tacoma this weekend.
Matson Navigation Co. has four ships on the West Coast with three more en route.
Jim Andrasick, Matson chairman and chief executive officer, said he expects the Kauai, currently idled in Seattle, to arrive in Honolulu on Oct. 13, with others to follow shortly thereafter.
"The Kauai has to be offloaded and then reloaded," Andrasick said. "The others would then phase in (as far as their scheduled departures go), and it would depend on bunkering -- how fast they can get refueled. All the ships anchored, particularly those in Los Angeles, are waiting for fuel. That has been held up by this work stoppage, and how fast they can leave for Hawaii will depend on how much labor will be made available to work the ships."
Besides the Kauai, Matson has the Ewa and Chief Gadao in Los Angeles and the Matsonia in Oakland. In addition, the Manulani was due to arrive in Seattle early today, with the Lurline scheduled to reach Los Angeles tomorrow afternoon and the Lihue getting to Los Angeles Tuesday morning. The half-loaded R.J. Pfeiffer, which was the last ship to arrive in Honolulu, came into port in Hawaii on Thursday.
Even though labor talks are continuing, the exemptions breakthrough began taking hold yesterday morning when Totem Ocean Trailer Express, a shipping line serving Alaska, asked the ILWU to provide about 100 workers to load cargo. Totem Ocean is not a member of the PMA, though the association later sanctioned the exemption.
The ILWU began working Totem Ocean's ships yesterday and expected to have all the freight cleared within a week.
Meanwhile, Hawaii's exemption will be welcome news for the state Department of Education, which had been weighing a request by milk suppliers Meadow Gold and Foremost to temporarily switch schoolchildren to powdered milk.
"They're asking the department to consider recombined milk," said Gene Kaneshiro, the DOE's director of school food services. "They would resort to that only if the local producers cannot keep up with our demands. We're taking it under consideration, although we would prefer local fresh milk.
"Right now, many schools are on intersession, so there's no big demand for milk, but there will be when schools pick up in a week and a half."
Foremost Sales Manager Ed Kini said the recombined milk has the same nutrients and the same taste as fresh milk and that schools should not have any reservations about using powdered milk.
"The lockout has caused us tremendous pain," Kini said. "In our case, about 40 percent of our milk comes from the mainland, and we're diligently trying to find ways to accommodate the contract with the DOE schools, as well as the other state and federal contracts. We're probably OK for now, but we're going to see a percentage cut (of the milk that is needed by) next Wednesday or Thursday. We're looking at needing a big production by Friday or Saturday of next week."
Pacific Maritime Association
International Longshore and Warehouse Union
