West Coast Ports See Longest Labor Disruptions Since 2015 (1)

The biggest shipping gateways on the US West Coast are enduring the longest labor-related disruptions since 2015 as talks between port employers and dockworkers close in on one year without a contract.

The two sides are clashing over how to divide carriers’ pandemic-era profits in a market that’s returned to rock-bottom freight rates.

The previous labor contract covering 29 ports from California to Washington State expired July 1, 2022. The International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union, representing 22,000 dockworkers, and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents ocean carriers and terminal operators, have been negotiating since May 2022.

Until now, the ...