Labour relations fair to middling

As usual, observers are reluctant to comment publicly but note that the difficulties have originated largely on the East Coast. While shipping lines are already trying to find other ports, most analysts predict that there should not be any lasting switch from the Gulf.

“What will happen is that carriers will become even more flexible in route selection, except for specialist cargo,” says one. The pattern of development in the US has been such that container traffic has almost exclusively been handled by union labour while breakbulk does have an increasing element of non-union handling.

“Containers can be re-routed virtually anywhere,” says the analyst, “and others will take up the slack. But the breakbulk is another matter altogether and that is both a strength and weakness of the Gulf.

“Where does it go? And what comes next? Those are the questions everyone is dealing with now. It’s all very well to speak of the Panama Canal effect, but when a strike enters the equation, planning has to switch from long term to short term. Who is up for the challenge?”

Meanwhile, the Gulf continues to grapple with an expense that other ports are spared, in the form of hurricane protection. The costs are not just limited to damage to port structures, as Paul Bingham, economics practice leader at CDM Smith, explains.

“As was found after Katrina, the buildings and wharves stood up well. It’s the ancillary facilities such as roads and rail that are often knocked around and take time to repair. For up-river ports there is the added problem of shoaling caused by the debris and sand.

“Channels have to be closed, single lane traffic set up and lightering has to be used because drafts are so limited. Those effects can take an enormous length of time to put right.”