With labor dispute over, workers at ports of LA and Long Beach begin clearing backlog

The mayors of Los Angeles and Long Beach stood with union and port officials on the deck of a battleship Monday to celebrate the end of a labor battle that has plagued ports on the west coast for months.  

Union dockworkers and shipping companies reached a tentative contract agreement on Friday. Details of that agreement were not made available.

The Ports of L.A. and Long Beach now face a backlog of cargo ships at sea and cargo containers on the docks. Bobby Olvera, president of  Local 13 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union said his union has already deployed 5,000 workers to begin moving the cargo and reducing the congestion.  

"We're going to work around the clock to get those containers moved, get the cargo on the shelves, and as I told my son this morning, we're going to make sure the Easter Bunny visits everyone in the U.S. this year," Olvera said.

On Monday morning, the Marine Exchange, which monitors cargo ship traffic at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, reported that 27 container ships were waiting in the harbor to dock. When traffic is flowing normally, one or two ships wait "at anchor" in the harbor.

Paul Bingham, trade economist with Hackett Associates, said it could take around three months for the ports to run at full speed again.

"The backlog is more than just the stacks of the containers that are right on the the terminals today," Hackett told KPCC.  "They're the vessels sitting at anchor, and then there's all the repercussions through the supply chain." 

Olvera of the ILWU said the backlog could be cleared in half that time if the docks ran 24 hours a day.  At this point, dockworkers don't work between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m.

"That’s an important shift," Olvera said.  "That’s when mom and dad and the children are home sleeping, when the traffic is light on the highways, and I think we’re missing the boat."

The ports of L.A. and Long Beach handle 43 percent of the goods entering the U.S., and about 27 percent of exports.  Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said the two ports would begin a new era of collaboration.

"Other ports are getting stronger," Garcetti said, referring to ports in Canada and Mexico, as well as east and gulf coast ports, which hope to attract more shipping business with the expansion of the Panama Canal. That expansion is now expected to be complete early next year. 

He said L.A. and Long Beach can work together to maintain their competitive edge.

"Even with a wider Panama Canal, we can beat almost any port in this country to market anywhere in the United States by about a week." 

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will continue to compete with one another, but will collaborate where appropriate, Garcetti said.  Officials from the two ports recently asked the Federal Maritime Commission to help them address a wider range of congestion issues, including the supply of truck chassis, the scheduling of vessel calls at the ports, and the long wait times for trucks that haul cargo. 

"We share the same air, we share infrastructure, we share the same concerns when it comes to the environment," said Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia of the two cities. "For Long Beach to succeed, Los Angeles has to succeed.  For Los Angeles to succeed, Long Beach has to succeed."