Oakland cargo backlog

Oakland said that 10 to 12 vessels a day still await berths at its marine terminals and truck drivers sometimes wait hours to collect containerised imports which are then delayed by days in reaching their final destination.

The slowdown of cargo on the US west coast is not just down to the labour dispute, but it has helped exacerbate the problem.

It’s certainly bad news for Oakland which said that shippers and ocean carriers are losing confidence in the reliability of the ports and as a consequence are diverting cargo to other gateways in Canada, Mexico or through the Panama and Suez canals to the US east coast.

In a recent statement posted online the port said: “If the situation, worsens, if west coast ports shut down, the US economy and the global supply chain will be jeopardised.”

The port has publicly advocated for a settlement of the contract dispute and said it’s continually working daily with terminal operators and shippers to mitigate the impacts of the dispute.

It said that the consequences of not reaching a resolution is total port shutdown which could lead to job losses, factories shutting down and a negative effect on the Californian and US economies as a whole.

Even if a resolution is reached, maritime officials estimate it could take two months after a contract agreement is put in place to clear out the cargo backlog in the region.