As the labor dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) continues at U.S. West Coast ports, the impact on shipping and trading hasn’t solely been within the U.S. borders. The effects are also playing out in Canada, particularly oat the nation’s Vancouver port.
According to GCT Canada/TSI System Inc., trading volume out of Vancouver’s port rose 15 percent in June when compared with year-ago levels, Financial Post reported. GCT/TSI is Canada’s largest terminal operator. Additionally just among container imports, trading increased by 22 percent last month on a year-over-year basis.
John Parker-Jervis, spokesperson for Port Metro Vancouver, told the national news source that the reason for the uptick likely stems from more people opting to use Canada-based ports in order to avoid backups that have occurred along the U.S.’ western ports.
Jonathan Gold, vice president for supply chains at the National Retail Federation (NRF), indicated that the companies that have adjusted the best to the port dispute are those who expected to experience trouble.
“A lot of shippers, importers, retailers and others have put contingency plans into place to make sure they can get their cargo to their destination, just in case there was going to be some kind of disruption,” said Gold, according to the Financial Post.
Import traffic heavy on railways
It isn’t just the ports in Canada that have felt the effects of the PMA/ILWU dispute, which is more than three weeks old. Jean-Jacques Rest, CEO of Canadian National Railway (CNR), indicated in a letter to customers that rail import volume levels are quite high, calling the situation “untenable.”
There haven’t been many developments or reports of a meeting of the minds between the PMA and ILWU so far. Contract negotiations are scheduled to resume today, as a joint statement released on July 18 indicated that no discussions would be had on either July 18 or 19. Talks are expected to take place between now and July 27, but will break again from July 28 to August 1 for unrelated contract negotiation commitments among members of the ILWU, according to the latest press release issued.
The last labor contract, which expired July 1, covered close to 20,000 longshore workers at 29 ports along the west coast. Both parties have made promises to customers and companies that use the ports that they will be able to continue to take advantage of the ports no matter how long the negotiations take.
Livingston continues to monitor the situation on the West Coast. We recommend you bookmark our West Coast port updates page and follow us on Twitter to stay up-to-date on the latest.