Article by: Rick Walker, Vice President, LCB, CCS

The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach remained closed today as a shortage of labor halted operations. The International Longshoremen’s West Coast Union (ILWU) Local 13 withheld labor again for Friday morning’s shift, effectively shutting down port operations. This action surely has to do with the labor contract talks that have been ongoing for almost a year now between the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which represents the terminal operators and ocean carriers. The PMA made a statement today referencing the ILWU action, but the ILWU has made no comment as of this writing.

We will continue to communicate with our West Coast partners to gain a better understanding of the situation on the ground and will monitor this situation closely and provide updates as they become available.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team, or you may also contact our Trade Compliance team at tradeinsights@valexander.com with any questions.