Cargo volumes at the Port of Los Angeles declined by roughly 6 percent in April as shipping activity continued to be affected by the lingering effects of winter’s labor strife.
That’s the view as expressed by Port of Los Angeles spokesman Phillip Sanfield, who said shipping volumes have likely fallen off because cargo ships have not returned to normal schedules after being backed up outside the harbor earlier this year during the difficult final months of labor negotiations between dock workers and their employers.
“In March, a lot of the ships unloaded here and went back to Asia and didn’t get back to their routine rotations,” Sanfield said.
Another factor that likely affected April’s decline in shipping volumes is that during last spring, shippers moved greater-than-usual volumes of cargo across the Pacific Ocean in order to get goods moved to U.S. shores before the last contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association expired in July.
Sanfield said it’s too early to tell whether May’s volumes will be affected by the recent labor problems.
The Port of Los Angeles released shipping data for April Friday. Statistics for the Port of Long Beach were not yet available.
In April, nearly 663,000 container units moved through the Port of Los Angeles, compared roughly 706,000 container units during the same month last year.More than 328,000 of the container units that moved through the Port of Los Angeles last month were inbound shipments. Outbound shipments accounted for nearly 146,000 container units.
April’s decline in shipping volumes happened one month after data showed a big jump in activity at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach while workers processed the major backlog of cargo that accumulated during the latter weeks of labor negotiations between dock workers and port businesses represented by the PMA.
The two sides did not agree to contract terms until late February. Before the deal was struck, both sides accused each other of using slowdown tactics to gain negotiating leverage.ILWU members are scheduled to vote May 22 on whether to ratify the proposed five-year contract.
