Ports open to LOS ANGELES >> U.S. West Coast port shipping companies expect to take nine weeks to clear millions of pounds of food, toys and car parts piled on docks and ships after a federal judge ended a lockout of about 10,500 dockworkers.
backlog of cargo
It's expected to take
Dispute cost Dole $2.4 mil
more than 2 months
to clear out the system
Isles face shipping jamBy Edvard Pettersson
Bloomberg NewsUnion Pacific Corp., the biggest U.S. railroad, moved 90 extra locomotives to the West Coast to help remove the backlog. Tyson Foods Inc., Cargill Inc. and other meat exporters have 29,000 metric tons of beef and pork valued at $90 million sitting at West Coast ports, the U.S. Meat Export Federation said.
President George W. Bush used the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act to request the opening at 29 ports before the holiday shopping season because he said the shutdown cost the U.S. economy as much as $1 billion and 1,000 farm-related jobs a day. The union said it may keep adhering to safety rules, a practice carriers call a work slowdown that prompted the lockout.
"We are concerned that we are going to get a flood on the first day," said Union Pacific spokesman John Bromley. The railway set up a Nebraska "war room" to track loads of shoes, televisions and computers rolling across the U.S., he said.
Union members in California, Oregon and Washington plan to resume work at 6 p.m. West Coast time today. Members must return to work through Oct. 16 under the order from U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco. The court will hear a government request for an 80-day cool-off period.
The backlog will take eight to nine weeks to clear, carriers group Chief Executive Officer Joe Miniace said. The equivalent of 680,000 truckloads of cargo is sitting on docks and ships, Bear Stearns analyst Ed Wolfe estimates in a report.
"Incredibly congested" docks may slow worker progress and risk safety of union members, International Longshore and Warehouse Union spokesman Steve Stallone said.
"The court order directed us to work according to the contract," he said. "It's going to be impossible to have the productivity levels that we had before."
When contract talks that began in May deadlocked last month, the union said workers would observe all safety regulations. Carriers said that lowered production 54 percent and countered by locking out the union. No new talks are scheduled.
The sides disagree over use of new computers, scanners and other equipment at docks, which the carriers say is needed to make ports more efficient. The union agreed to the changes the carriers want only in exchange for union members getting all new jobs created by the use of the equipment.
Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said today that "the federal government will be there to provide a helping hand, but it remains important for the strength of the economy for labor and management to use this cooling-off period" to reach an accord.
The pileup of cargo poses an elevated security risk, shipping officials said. U.S. Customs Service officials will have inspectors work overtime and bring in more X-ray machines to get cargo moving quickly, said John Heinrich, director of field operations for the Los Angeles area.
Retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are deciding where to send coats, stereos or other merchandise for the start of holiday shopping next month.
Some stores won't have all the merchandise they were counting on for Columbus Day holiday sales in the United States this coming weekend and there may be shortages of toys and electronics once the holiday shopping season starts next month, said Erik Autor, international trade counsel at the National Retail Federation.
"We expect continued significant slowdowns," he said.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. ended production at the Normal, Illinois, plant late yesterday where it builds Mitsubishi and Chrysler cars because of a parts shortage from the shutdown, said spokesman Dan Irvin. The plant will be down through Friday.
Wal-Mart is trying to get products into distribution centers quickly. The world's largest retailer has shifted merchandise between distribution centers to have items to replenish area stores while still handling regular deliveries of holiday products, spokesman Tom Williams said.
About 200 ships are waiting to be unloaded at the West Coast ports. In Los Angeles and Long Beach, the two largest U.S. ports, about 66 ships are anchored outside the ports in addition to about 40 that are at berth, said Reid Crispino, operations manager with the Marine Exchange in Los Angeles. It takes about 12 hours to unload each ship, he said.
The West Coast ports handle about $300 billion of trade a year, including imports from Asia for U.S. retailers and manufacturers. The closing may have cost the economy $19.4 billion over 10 days in lost business and wages, according to a report by consulting firm Martin Associates for carriers.
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LOS ANGELES >> Dole Food Co., the world's largest fruit and vegetable producer, said it lost $2.4 million after a shipment of 8.4 million pounds of bananas sat at the Port of Los Angeles because of a labor dispute. Dole says it lost $2.4 mil
due to port labor disputeBy Joyzelle Davis
Bloomberg NewsA federal judge in San Francisco yesterday granted President George W. Bush's request to end the 10-day lockout of about 10,500 union workers. The shutdown is costing as much as $1 billion and 1,000 farming jobs daily, Bush said.
Dole also went to court in a bid to get an order to remove the 240 containers of Ecuadorian-grown bananas and plantains from the port, where they have been sitting since Sept. 26. U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder in Los Angeles earlier yesterday denied Dole's request, saying she doesn't have jurisdiction to interfere with a labor dispute.
Bush's action effectively delivers the same result that Dole had requested. The order forces union employees to return to work through Oct. 16.
Dole also said it incurred costs from diverting other ships from Los Angeles to Ensenada, Mexico, the company said in a statement.
Shares of Westlake Village, California-based Dole fell 56 cents to $28.08 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
Pacific Maritime Association
International Longshore and Warehouse Union
