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Discharge of cargo delayed in Honolulu

Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union had failed to report for work to unload a Pasha ship in Hawaii.

   Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) did not show up to discharge cargo from a Pasha Hawaii ship in Honolulu Harbor as scheduled on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, according to multiple news reports.
   KHON2 said it was told workers finally arrived Thursday afternoon and began working the ship.
   Both KHON2 and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser said they were told by Pasha that the company has chartered barges to move cargo to neighboring islands in order to prevent delays that would have resulted in cargo missing regular feeder services, operated by Young Brothers.
   KHON2 was told by Mike Hansen, the president of the Hawaii Shippers’ Council, that a one-day delay at Honolulu could result in a two or three-day delay in the arrival of cargo at an outlying island because of missed connections for a regularly scheduled barge sailing. He also said the job action would be a contract violation.
   In a note to American Shipper Hansen said “No one publicly stated what the issue was that caused the ILWU stevedores to not show for work. A Hawaii stevedore industry insider told me yesterday that it was a ‘jurisdictional issue,’ but didn’t further comment.”
   The ship “has resumed container discharge operations and will work to expedite container availability in Honolulu,” Pasha spokeswoman Emily Sinclair said. “We will follow with charter barge information for neighbor island connections as the day progresses.”
   Spokespeople from the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association were not immediately available to explain why the work stoppage occurred.

Chris Dupin

Chris Dupin has written about trade and transportation and other business subjects for a variety of publications before joining American Shipper and Freightwaves.