Port Officials Struggling to Find Solution to Ongoing Congestion

0

Maritime officials, looking to avoid a repeat of this year’s massive congestion at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, are considering changes in their operations that could include additional hires.


Despite a slight easing in the backlog of ships plaguing both facilities for several months, there were twice the usual 35 to 40 vessels waiting to get in last week. With the holiday sales season essentially under way, importers and distributors have been left scrambling to get goods to retailers.


The congestion has been costly to steamship lines, which have seen their ships backed up for days at a time, unable to unload and move on. Many maritime officials believe the logjams will remain in the place until sometime in February.


“This particular case has highlighted for everybody the need for this to be an exact science,” said Jim McKenna, chief executive of the Pacific Maritime Association, the bargaining representative for the steamship lines. “If we don’t get in front of this and we’re in a situation where there is a backlog, digging out is overwhelming. To let it happen again would be absolutely unacceptable and insanity.”


In an interview with the Business Journal, McKenna said there is a “fairly high probability” that there will be another round of hiring for so-called casual workers non-union day workers brought on as needed. Typically, veteran casuals are first in line when union positions become available.


Citing the need for more help, McKenna said cargo volume next year at both ports is likely to increase. “I would anticipate another (early peak season),” he said. “It’s more of the same with volume being higher.”


The Port of Long Beach handled 4.1 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent unit) from January through September, a 20.5 percent jump over the first nine months of 2003, while L.A.’s 5.5 million TEUs were a 3.4 percent increase over the year-earlier period.



Improving relations?


As a result of last summer’s crunch, 5,000 casual workers have been hired, and McKenna said thousands more casual applicants who did not get selected would be next in line, although he did not indicate when those hires might occur.


In addition, the PMA will soon begin reviewing container projections on the monthly basis, instead of its normal quarterly practice, so that the agency can respond immediately to any sudden surges in container traffic.


McKenna, who was clear not to blame the union for the bulk of the vessel congestion, said he hopes his agency can establish stronger lines of communication with dockworkers to avoid delays in bringing on additional labor.


“This has been a combative relationship for a long time,” he said. “The 2002 contract negotiations certainly didn’t help that. But we have to develop a relationship. Is it getting better? Yeah. Is it where it needs to be? Not even close.”


The PMA is scheduled to meet with representatives from its member vessel lines and terminal operators in Long Beach on Dec. 8 to review budgets for 2005, which will be based on initial cargo projections for that year.


For this year’s peak season, it’s too little too late.


“(Importers) are concerned about this,” said Ezra Finkin, legislative representative for Waterfront Coalition, a retailers’ trade group. “They would have liked to have the waterfront employers make a better forecast about the cargo projections that they used.”


As of the end of October, 1,250 casuals had been or were soon to be registered to become union members. Prior to that, 1,500 casuals were registered from the time that employers and the union signed a six-year contract in 2002.


Under a formula devised by the PMA this summer, employers will replace every casual registered with the union with four new casuals. That might add significantly to the employment rolls, but it won’t be enough to placate the frustration felt by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which continues to blame the PMA for hiring delays.



Not reacting quickly


Union officials, who said they first asked for more help in February, claim employers are creating a system that relies heavily on casuals who get no health or pension benefits.


They also note that even after the last of the new casuals complete their training and begin working the docks next month, there will still be a shortage of registered union members who are trained to handle cranes and other heavy equipment.


“That’s where the shortage is,” said Steve Stallone, a spokesman for the ILWU. “If (the PMA) had registered dockworkers then, they would have been on the ground and working before the peak season and this (congestion) never would have happened.”


McKenna concedes that “we probably put an extra six weeks of delay into that by not reacting quickly enough.” But employers note that despite repeated warnings since the summer, some registered longshoremen continue to turn down higher-skilled jobs in favor of better-paying clerk and foremen spots that frequently open up on a given day.


On one recent day, the ports had a shortage of 13 heavy equipment operators, said McKenna.

“It’s just imperative that the individuals that are trained take those jobs to allow the facilities to operate in the manner they need to,” he said. “To just bring in hordes of people at the bottom that don’t have skilled training doesn’t allow you to be efficient across the terminal.”


PMA officials have tried to make up for lost time by asking casuals and registered longshoremen to work an extra shift on an extra day each week. For many longshoremen casual or registered that would mean a four- to six-day workweek.


That has met resistance from the union, which is encouraging those members who already work five days a week not to take on any more assignments.


“Fatigue is the biggest factor in accidents,” said Stallone. “So we’re supposed to put ourselves in danger so (McKenna) doesn’t have to pay health benefits?”


McKenna said that while “we don’t want anybody to be out there unsafely,” an additional shift per week could eliminate the backlog in three weeks.

No posts to display