Port strike: West Coast port CEO assured facility can deal with elevated capability

Nationwide Milk Producers Federation CEO Gregg Doud discusses the affect that the port strike may have on varied industries and the financial system on ‘The Backside Line.’

The CEO of the Port of Lengthy Seashore is assured his Southern California can deal with no matter enhance in cargo it receives stemming from a dockworker strike at East and Gulf Coast ports.

“We do expect an increase in cargo” within the occasion of East Coast port strikes, Port of Lengthy Seashore CEO Mario Cordero advised FOX Enterprise in a Monday interview carried out previous to the contract deadline elapsing.

LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 16: Aerial view of containers ready at Port of Lengthy Seashore to be loaded onto trains and vans on October 16, 2021 in Lengthy Seashore, California. (Picture by Qian Weizhong/VCG by way of Getty Pictures) (Qian Weizhong/VCG by way of Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)

“The shippers, in this particular case of the East Coast negotiations, the shippers have more comfort and certainty so thus history tells you that during these sorts of sensitive contract negotiations, they start diverting cargo to other gateways, in this particular case the West Coast,” he stated.

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Different ports alongside the West Coast and ones in Canada, together with Halifax on the East Coast, may subject cargo that will get re-routed, Cordero stated.

“We’re in a very good position to handle whatever increase in cargo we receive,” he advised FOX Enterprise, referencing the cargo volumes that moved by the Port of Lengthy Seashore in August.

The port’s employees dealt with over 913,800 TEUs that month, representing a virtually 34% year-over-year enhance, amid cargo diversions and potential tariff will increase, the port stated on the time.

The Port of Lengthy Seashore was presently at roughly 70% capability.

Cordero stated strikes at East and Gulf Coast ports wouldn’t affect West Coast operations.

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“It’s fair to say that whatever business comes our way in the West Coast, we’re able to handle that and have an efficient throughput of whatever service comes our way,” he stated. “I think there’s a lot of lessons learned from the COVID-19 experience.”

LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 12: A Lengthy Seashore Hearth harbor patrol boat passes close to container ships earlier than Sen. Alex Padilla gave a press convention on the Port of Lengthy Seashore on November 12, 2021 in Lengthy Seashore, California. Padilla highlighted the (Mario Tama/Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)

A few of Lengthy Seashore’s preparations embody having its Enterprise Restoration Job Pressure on the prepared and dealing with its companions.

“If there is a prolonged stoppage, it will impact the economy as a result of higher costs, because any time you have any kind of supply chain interruption like we did in COVID-19 you’re talking about additional costs,” Cordero advised FOX Enterprise. “It’s a very sensitive time given the fact that we have a very good economy and the inflationary rate is on a very positive trajectory … We certainly don’t want as a nation any factors that takes us the other way so I think it’s probably the foremost of importance in terms of what this means to the nation, that is avoiding any work stoppage of any prolonged nature whatsoever.”

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The Port of Lengthy Seashore CEO stated there are negotiations between the dockworkers’ unions and the employer associations each six years.

Final 12 months, the Pacific Maritime Affiliation and the Worldwide Longshore and Warehouse Union inked a brand new six-year contract of their very own and not using a work stoppage occurring. The settlement, reached after prolonged discussions, utilized to some 22,000 dockworkers employed by 29 ports on the West Coast, together with Lengthy Seashore.

The Port of Lengthy Seashore noticed over 8 million TEUs of cargo over the course of final 12 months.