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ANGRY
agricultural exporters and truckers attending
the Agriculture Transportation Coalition
(AgTC) annual meeting in San Francisco expressed
frustration about losses and delays incurred
during the recent cargo handling slow down
at west coast ports.
They
want assurances that there will be no slow
down when the current contract expires in
2019 between the International Longshore
and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific
Maritime Association (PMA).
"The
US cannot afford another collapse of our
gateway container ports," said the
AgTC statement. "We cannot stand by
and wait for US west coast ports, which
have now shut down twice over the past 13
years, to do it again when the recently
approved ILWU-PMA contract expires in just
four years, in 2019."
Edward
DeNike, president at Stevedoring Service
of America Containers, candidly made no
excuses about that PMA-ILWU contract. He
noted negotiations were dominated by a "bunch
of little issues" and were approached
with "no sense of urgency." He
admitted that the new contract has no provision
to improve productivity.
Delegates
gave Avanti Nut Company vice president Nina
Solari a standing ovation when she urged
participants to support efforts in Congress
to include longshore workers as part of
the Railway Labour Act, so as to restrict
work stoppages and strikes.
Ms
Solari criticised the ILWU for ignoring
the plight of farmers and growers who suffered
massive losses of export sales when shipments
were delayed or stranded at west coast ports
during the 2014-2015 slow down.
She
also criticised the PMA (Pacific Maritime
Association) for failing to stand up for
agricultural customers and for "passing
on" ILWU wage and benefit demands.
AgTC
executive director Peter Friedman complained
that ocean carriers, terminals and ports
favoured higher, treated agricultural exporters
as "backhaul" priced import customers
such as Wal-Mart.
Mr
Friedman did note that the California ports
have been working hard to reduce congestion
and delays. AgTC applauded efforts by the
Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to include
AgTC members in "stakeholder outreach
initiatives" related to port service
improvements.
Stockton,
California's Antonini Trucking boss Joe
Antonini told the American Journal of Transportation
that problems related to detention and per
diem charges resulting from the slow down
and the aftermath are continuing, and the
charges are sizeable.
AgTC
is asking the Federal Maritime Commission
to take action on unfair detention and demurrage
charges assessed against truckers and agricultural
shippers.
The
AgTC also said some ocean carriers took
into account congestion and the labour slow
down and are accepting "customer requests
to rescind the per diem invoices".
Unfortunately, "most carriers continue
to issue invoices, totalling hundreds of
thousands, and in some cases millions of
dollars" are being assessed against
truckers and shippers as a result of the
logistical meltdown.
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