ILWU-PMA continue contract talks

In Oakland, the port has seen a higher number of ships at anchor, and ships are off schedule from Los Angeles.    Negotiators from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and employers represented by the Pacific Maritime Association plan to continue to contract negotiations on Monday.
   ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees said Sunday that representatives from the union and management met on both Saturday and Sunday in talks that have been going on since May on a contract to replace the ILWU-PMA agreement that expired July 1.
   Kip Louttit, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California, said that on Sunday morning, there were six containerships at anchor.
   Congestion was also visible at the Port of Oakland.
   Sunday afternoon, eight containerships were seen at anchor in San Francisco Bay.
   Mike Zampa, a spokesman for the port of Oakland, said he was told by the Coast Guard last week that the port has seen a higher number of ships at anchor, and that ships are off schedule from Los Angeles and are “arriving on top of each other.”
   Lynn Korwatch, executive director of the Marine Exchange of the San Francisco Bay Region, said that ships are “definitely stacking up” at the anchorage near Oakland.
   The Port of Oakland said Monday morning it is taking added measures to “help address unprecedented vessel traffic.” It said “container
ships arriving with unprecedented frequency in San Francisco Bay outstrips anything seen in the past decade.”
   The port said it has opened a Sunday gate at one of its largest marine terminals to discharge additional import cargo and that it is sending an operational status update to hundreds of harbor truckers, ocean carriers and shippers to improve supply-chain planning.
   “The added features are expected to improve cargo flow slowed by increased container volume and a multitude of delayed vessels arriving simultaneously,” it said. “In the last three days alone, 13 ships called in Oakland — most well behind schedule.”
   “We welcome increased cargo volume at Oakland, and we’ve got to do a better job of managing the flow,” said Port of Oakland Maritime
Director John Driscoll. “We’re working every day with the marine terminals, truck drivers and shippers to pick up the pace.”
   The port authority said in a statement, “Import cargo volume has increased at Oakland in each of the last three months compared to 2013 totals. The gains resulted from aggressive marketing as well as congestion at other ports, which caused cargo diversions to Oakland. The port has said it has capacity to accept additional containers. But operations have been hampered by off-schedule ships and recent
labor-management disputes on the docks. The result has been a slowdown in cargo movement and long lines of trucks waiting to enter
terminals.
   “The port has responded with extended hours, night gates and dedicated lanes in terminals to expedite simple transactions. It’s
meeting regularly with harbor truckers to address their issues in hauling cargo,” it said. “The daily status update launched today will provide the latest information on vessel arrivals, terminal operations and truck queues outside terminal gates.”
   The Port of Oakland said terminal operators plan to continue occasional night and weekend gates until cargo flows normalize.
   “Cargo volume is expected to moderate soon now that the peak holiday shipping season has passed,” it said.
   Drewry said in the latest edition of its Container Insight Weekly, “With the U.S. West Coast port situation no nearer to being resolved, shippers must be prepared for further operational disruption well into the first months of 2015.”
   The London-based consultants said congestion at West Coast ports contributed to lower containerships reliability in November.
   Drewry said its online Carrier Performance Insight reported that transpacific ships were on average 2.4 days later than scheduled in November, more than twice the normal deviation.
    “On-time percentage for ships calling at either Los Angeles or Long Beach is down to only 41 percent in October and 46 percent in November, when it had been around 90 percent in July,” it said.