Big increase in number of trade groups urging ILWU-PMA resolution - JOC Staff | Jan 16, 2015 5:01PM EST A growing number of trade associations that have signed their names to a series of letters calling for a resolution to West Coast longshore talks points to the widening economic impact of port delays that have now lasted for months. The latest letter to the head of the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, issued on Friday, lists 175 associations that said their thousands of collective members “desperately need this negotiation to be concluded and operations returned to normal levels of through-put.” The letter is the sixth issued by a coalition of importers and exporters since last May urging the parties to remain at the negotiating table and avoid disruptions to port operations. Yet as the months have gone by with no resolution to the negotiations, which began on May 12, and as disruption tied directly to the negotiations has grown more severe, the number of signatories to the letters has steadily grown. The first letter on May 9 (urging the parties to conclude an agreement by the expiration of the previous contract on June 30th), was signed by 67 associations. By Oct. 20, the letter (which complained of “no visible progress in the negotiations”), had 104 associations. By Dec. 31 the letter (which noted “significant congestion at the ports which is impacting both imports and exports”) had 167 signatories, and on Friday’s letter the number had climbed to 175. Among the signatories are: the American Soybean Association, the American Trucking Associations, the Association of American Railroads, the Beer Institute, the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, the Kansas Livestock Association, the Institute of Makers of Explosives, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, the Retail Council of Canada and the Retail Industry Leaders Association. A full list is here. “The growing number of associations represents the growing concern among the business community about the impact that the ongoing contract negotiations and congestion is having on all stakeholders who rely on the ports to move their commerce,” Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation, who has helped organize the letters. “More and more companies, both large and small, are feeling the impacts from the congestion at the ports. This is impacting their businesses, the jobs who rely on those businesses and their consumers, both here and abroad.” Despite the presence of a federal mediator who entered the negotiations on Jan. 5 at the request of both the ILWU and PMA, the talks have only further deteriorated, with mutual accusations, persistent delays at U.S. West Coast ports, and diversions to ports in Canada and on the East Coast like Oakland and Prince Rupert. Higher spot container rates from China to the U.S. East Coast was one indication of the continuing diversions. According to the letter released on Friday, “Sales of American exports remain clouded in uncertainty across Asia and our overseas competitors eagerly highlight the problems at West Coast ports as a reason not to purchase American made or grown products. “Manufacturers in the Midwest have had to slow and even stop production lines due to delays in receiving containers from the West Coast that hold critical inputs. Retailers are now seeing delays of early spring merchandise including products for Valentine’s Day and Easter. Supply chains across all of our industry sectors have already been adversely impacted due to events far beyond our control over the past several months. It is a black eye for the broader economy” Gold said: “It’s time for the parties to work with the mediator to resolve their differences on the contract and return port operations to normal levels so the congestion can be cleared and we can begin to work on real solutions to the congestion issues facing the ports.”
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 05:50:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015