An Agreement May Be Soon Reached In West Coast Slowdown

An agreement to solve the slowdown in shipping on the West Coast may be reached soon. According to Dustin Stoker, the Director of Operations at Port of Tacoma “We remain hopeful that there will be a tentative agreement in place by today or tomorrow to discuss at the meeting next week, and that voting will take place after that. Hopefully productivity will get back to normal”.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union had began a weeklong session on Monday to discuss a contract offer that employers have put forward. No details on these comments or the offer put forward are available as of yet. However, the Union stands to lose much leverage on the issue once the holiday season ends. And with the holidays quickly coming up, the need for a satisfying agreement becomes more dire.

Among the industries harmed the Washington apple industry is expected to lose tens of millions of dollars in shipments due to the slowdown. Washington apple shipments normally reach their peak during the December-January months in shipping to Asian countries. Instead, they are losing their business to domestic markets and ultimately lowering the cost of goods. This is just one of many shipping businesses affected by the slow-down that has taken place over the past weeks.

Unfortunately the damage to business this holiday season may unsalvageable as it is expected to take some time to clean up facilities, clearing empty containers, and reorganizing for incoming shipments. It may not be until the week of January 15^th, that operations will return in full to most ports. This is assuming, dockworkers are back to work in full before the holidays. Hopefully an agreement will be reached in the coming days, and the shipping industry will be ready to push forward.