Los Angeles port shelves plan for 24-hour work

Plans to unload cargo at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex around the clock have been shelved until early next year, port officials said on Thursday, delaying a planned move to ease the costly backlog of cargo ships at the nation's busiest port.
Although 5,000 extra dock workers have been hired in the past two months at the port, which serves as the US gateway to trade with Asia, the longshoremen's union and employers continue to struggle with labour shortages at a time of record cargo levels in the peak shipping season, both sides said.
More than 1,900 of the new hires have been trained and have started work, but union officials and shippers were at odds this week over how best to address both short- and long-term problems at the port complex.
On Thursday, 33 ships were waiting at anchor outside the port complex, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California, which tracks port movements.
"Four months ago that figure would have been two or four," said Capt. Dick McKenna of the Marine Exchange. "We have not seen any improvement in the turnaround time for ships. In fact, it is fractionally increasing. The cargo is relentless right now. We are not getting any breaks."
Port officials say volume is up about 10 percent through August of this year - double what was forecast. Peak shipping season is traditionally August to October as importers and retailers ready their stores for the busy year-end holiday season.
James Spinosa, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, told journalists in a briefing that the backlog was at "a critical stage." He said the union "wants to work together on alternative thinking."
Spinosa said a shortage of equipment was delaying training of new hires and called for shipping lines to promote 1,000 casual workers to full union status with access to benefits.
But the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents waterfront employers, said changing the status of these workers would not relieve the present cargo crunch.
It also said the ILWU had failed to respond to requests for a relaxation in non-safety work rules during the crisis.
"Unfortunately, the union's latest proposals are designed to expand their ranks rather than to deal with the difficult issues at hand," the PMA said in a statement.
The PMA said it supported staffing port gates 24 hours, but attempting to do so now, given the labour shortage, would only worsen the current situation. Both sides hope to revisit the issue in the spring.