Up to another 2,000 dock workers are being hired at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as ships wait to unload record transpacific trade ahead of the US holiday shopping season, officials said this week.
The 50-percent staff increase, while still in its early stages, will get goods flowing into stores from the port complex, which functions as the major gateway for US trade with Asia and ranks as one of the busiest in the world.
"We are not expecting any unanticipated delays ... this is a very important season for us, so we are watching the situation carefully," said Bill Wertz, a spokesman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
There were 114 vessels waiting offshore to unload and 53 docked at Long Beach-Los Angeles as of Tuesday, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California, which tracks port movements.
The dual port complex is the largest in the United States and No. 3 world-wide after Hong Kong and Singapore. Volume, which hit a record of nearly 12 million containers last year, is up about 10 percent through August of this year.
"It's really a labour issue. All the key players - the railroads, the trucks and the terminal operators - are doing their best to keep the cargo moving," Sheila Gonzales, spokeswoman for the Port of Los Angeles said.
Last month shipping companies at the ports hired 3,000 out of a lottery that attracted hundreds of thousands of applicants for part-time longshore jobs. An additional 15,000 entries were set aside as potential future hires.
"The decision has already been made to take another 1,000 names and probably another 1,000 after that," said Jim McKenna, president of the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents waterfront employers. Every week 250 to 300 workers are being added to the industry, he said.
"The problem with what they've finally agreed to is that the peak season will be over by the time all these workers are trained," Steve Stallone, spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said.
The dock worker jobs - so-called "casual" positions that could lead to full unionised employment - pay from $21 to $28 an hour. Salaries for "registered" longshoremen in Los Angeles and Long Beach averaged over $89,000 last year.
McKenna attributed the Southern California port congestion to the combination of a depleted work force and unexpectedly robust shipping volume. "Volume is up over double what was forecast," he said.
Railroads are also expanding payrolls to deal with the cargo traffic.
Union Pacific Corp, the biggest rail group in North America operating in 23 western states, said it expects to have 5,000 new crew members trained by the end of the year.
"We've been hiring aggressively for months now," said Kathryn Blackwell, a spokeswoman for Union Pacific. "Our performance is on target ... there are no ships waiting for Union Pacific trains in Los Angeles."
Ezra Finkin, a transportation consultant to the National Retail Federation, said retailers are concerned about the port congestion but realise that transport providers are working as best they can to limit delays.
"We don't foresee major disruptions to holiday supply chains," he said.
Plans are in place to institute night time and weekend unloading at the ports, but new workers need to be trained before the extensions can start, McKenna said.
"We will put labour against this, but other forces are in play," he added, noting that efforts are underway to improve the use of technology in tracking and monitoring cargo.
Comments
Comments are closed.