Port Strike Deadline Delayed, Like Everything Else At Port

LONG BEACH, Calif.—Employers and about 250 port watchmen at Los Angeles and Long Beach have extended their contract talks to Nov. 20, the third time the strike deadline has moved, Forwarder News reported, citing Reuters and JOC. The deadline was first set for Nov. 1. It is now expected in two weeks, weather and rail permitting.

Gus Ternberg measured it. Nov. 1 to Nov. 4. Nov. 4 to Nov. 6. Nov. 6 to Nov. 20. Three moves. Nineteen days of slip. For a deadline, that is on time.

The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents terminal operators and carriers, and ILWU Local 26, which represents the watchmen, are continuing to talk. The PMA has said a strike would affect terminals handling about 85% of Long Beach cargo and a third of Los Angeles cargo. Separately, FreightWaves counted 35,688 import containers waiting for on-dock trains on Oct. 26, according to Forwarder News.

It came in on the first, it rolled to the fourth, it sat until the sixth, and now it's dwelling…

A fictional terminal scheduler, Rhonda Velez, said the deadline has begun behaving like freight. "It came in on the first, it rolled to the fourth, it sat until the sixth, and now it's dwelling," she said. "Average dwell for a deadline here is about six days. This one's going to be fourteen. We may need to put it on a train."

Velez said the yard has assigned the Nov. 20 deadline a slot in Row 41, between a box of holiday string lights and a box of string lights for a different holiday. "It has a tracking number," she said. "Like everyone."

Ternberg rated the wrap on a pallet of patio heaters at the gate. Four passes. Loose at the top corner. A Tuesday wrap on a Sunday. He made a note.

He checked Container DSKU 401177-3 at 5:32 a.m. Day 944. In transit. One minute earlier than yesterday. He considered whether the container was waiting on the deadline, or the deadline on the container. The tracking page did not say.

A fictional freight forwarder, Paul Andrecki, said shippers should plan as if the deadline might arrive. "It might," he said. "Things do, eventually. That's the whole business." Ternberg wrote that down. Then he crossed out eventually.

Gus Ternberg covers supply chain and is still tracking Container DSKU 401177-3. Status: in transit. More from Gus Ternberg ›