G6 service to omit Oakland calls

A spokesperson for the Port of Oakland said it will hire 500 additional workers to address a shortage in time for peak season in the fall.    The G6 Alliance said it will omit calls to the Port of Oakland on the next four sailings of its Pacific Atlantic 2 (PA2) service between Asia, Central America, and the United States East and West Coasts, citing potential congestion “due to a shortage in labor as a result of ongoing labor issues.”
   The alliance, whose members are ocean carriers APL, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai, MOL, NYK and OOCL said the affected sailings are:

• MOL Endeavor (v.069e), ETA Oakland on 8 July 2015
• MOL Efficiency (v. 072e), ETA Oakland on 15 July 2015
• APL Turquoise (v.127e), ETA Oakland on 22 July 2015
• MOL Express (v.082e), ETA Oakland on 29 July 2015

   According to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting, the PA2 service is operated with 10 vessels, seven from MOL and three from APL with an average capacity of 4,559 TEUs. The full port rotation of the loop is Tokyo, Kobe, Busan, Balboa, Manzanillo (PA), Miami, Jacksonville, Savannah, Charleston, New York/NJ, Norfolk, Manzanillo (PA), Balboa, Los Angeles, Oakland and Tokyo.
   Mike Zampa, a spokesman for the port said some ships have recently had to go to anchorage instead of immediately going to berth. He said the number of ships that have been at anchor has ranged from 4-10 in the last two weeks, with ships spending anywhere from a few hours to a day and half at anchor. On Monday morning there were six at anchor today and six holding station outside the Golden Gate. Zampa said the number was high because of the Fourth of July holiday Saturday.
   The solution to the problem, according to Zampa, is to hire more labor, and he told American Shipper the Pacific Maritime Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union have agreed to hire a combination of 500 additional casual and steady workers in time for peak season in the fall.
   SSA Containers President Edward DeNike, told members of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition at their annual meeting on June 26 that there was no purposeful slowdown by dockworkers, just a shortage of workers.
   The G6 Alliance members said they will “continue to monitor the Port of Oakland closely and will reinstate the call when improvements to the situation are observed.”