On the West Coast, Oakland is showing signs of getting through the labour disputes that have hampered progress. “The consolidation into two mega terminals has made the dockworker system much more efficient,” says the San Francisco consultant.
However, a legal tussle over the actions of the Waterfront Commission for New York Harbour is seen as a guidepost for future national labour strategy. The New York shipping Association and the ILA union have gone to court to stop what they claim is interference in the collective bargaining process – essentially the sole right to hire new people. A subtext of the standoff is suspicion that the commission wants to allow non-union dockers to be hired.
Worries over new disruptions at New York/New Jersey have led to the creation of the Port Performance Task Force. Terminal operators and shipping lines have been warning for more than a year that efficiency is in jeopardy because of fractious labour practices.
But shipping lines must take some of the blame for inefficiencies at US terminals, says one consultant. “They give very little notice of huge changes in operations and ship sizes. They expect terminals to be instantly ready for a new service or a bigger ship. Their decisions are so often random and they expect the ports to be able to cope immediately.”