By: Gary Ferrulli

Gary Ferrulli — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 14:59:31 +0000

The West Coast has lost significant market share in the past decade due to a labor force that is unfriendly to cargo interests, they believe
that they are protecting jobs when in fact they are losing them. The market growth has hidden the loss, although in recent weeks there
were actual losses in volume year over year. The East Coast and Gulf have not only gained market share, they have gained jobs due to their growth and it will continue for the variety of reasons that you stipulate – but the biggest issue is the shippers distrust of labor and what they went through in the past to recover from labor disruptions. They can no longer have a plan that has the West Coast as the primary source of their cargo from Asia, too risky. And the ocean carriers don’t want to have to pay climbing rail rates and the huge costs for empty repositioning on the rail vs the larger ships transiting the Panama Canal with relatively full ships and the lesser costs for not only the loads in and out, but the empty costs being much lower. The ILWU doesn’t seem to care about these facts, primarily because those there now “have theirs” , what happens 5, 1-, 15, 20 years from now, not their problem.

Comments on: Will ILWU Opposing Automation Cause Port Disruption?

By: Gary Ferrulli