As local negotiations for East/Gulf Coast longshoremen continue, the International Longshoremen's Association released the details of its agreement with the U.S. Maritime Exchange, which avoided a Feb. 6 strike. Key details are that the contract expires Sept. 30, 2018, and includes $1 per hour pay raises in 2014, 2016 and 2017. The ILA noted that the agreement is "subject to the drafting of final contract language and acceptance by the ILA membership." Other agreement details, confirmed by the USMX, include:
The National Retail Federation is "extremely disappointed" that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s Local 63 Office Clerical Unit rejected a contract agreement with the Harbor Employers Association, said NRF Vice President-Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold. (See ITT's Online Archives 13021121). An eight-day strike in November and December shut down most terminals at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach before the parties agreed on a tentative new contract.
It remains unclear what happens next after clerical members of the longshoremen's union rejected a contract for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Port officials were reporting no work disruptions following the Feb. 6 vote, in which all 16 unions of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit voted against the contract that was agreed to Dec. 4 (see ITT's Online Archives 12120534).
The latest speaker additions to the spring conference of the American Association of Port Authorities, March 18-19 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C., are: U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick, commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and former CBP Commissioner Ralph Basham, now a principle with Command Consulting Group. Other program speakers include Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, chair of the Senate Environment & Public Works Subcommittee on Oversight, CSX Transportation Vice President Derrick Smith, Morgan Stanley Executive Director Ira Smelkinson, Fitch Ratings Senior Director Seth Lehman, William Craft, the State Department deputy assistant secretary for trade policy and programs, and Marcus Sachs, Verizon Communications' vice president for national security policy.
Haier America will build a logistics hub for the southeast U.S. near the Port of Savannah, port officials said. Larry Monaghan, Haier senior vice president-administration, cited "the already approved work on deepening the Savannah port and the opening of the new Panama Canal." The company also cited the flexibility due to the number of shipping services calling on Savannah. Monaghan said Haier will move an annual volume of 4,500 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) through Savannah. The appliance maker chose third-party logistics provider Kenco to run the Black Creek warehouse operation.
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp. said it received a $41.4 million contract to deepen the Arthur Kill channel in the Ports of New York and New Jersey. The contract is from the Army Corps of Engineers New York District and involves the excavation of silt, glacial till and seabed material requiring subaqueous drilling and blasting, it said. Work is expected to begin before the end of the first quarter. Another $27.3 million in work on this contract is expected to be awarded this year. The project is the last phase of a comprehensive plan by the Army Corps of Engineers to deepen the Port of New York and New Jersey to 50 feet.
A membership ratification vote for a new contract for clerical workers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit is scheduled for Feb. 6, the union said. The tentative agreement was reached after an 8-day strike ending Dec. 4 (see ITT's Online Archives 12120534).
Facing yet another deadline for a contract agreement for East/Gulf Coast longshoremen, shippers are again beginning to make contingency plans. Contract talks were continuing under the auspices of the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service (see ITT's Online Archives 13012927), with the latest deadline for an agreement of Feb. 6. Neither the International Longshoremen's Association nor the U.S. Maritime Exchange is providing any details of any progress in the talks.
Negotiations between the International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Exchange continue, with a current deadline of Feb. 6, officials said. Talks are still being overseen by the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service. "A lot of shippers' livelihoods [are] on the line if a strike occurs," said Matt Parrott, A.N. Deringer director of transportation (here).
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners said Kinder Morgan Canada Terminals signed long-term contracts for the $112 million Phase 2 construction of an additional 1.2 million barrels of merchant storage capacity at Trans Mountain Pipeline's Edmonton terminal in Strathcona County, Alberta. Construction is to begin this spring, with completion expected in late 2014. Construction of Phase 1 of the expansion, which consists of 3.6 million barrels of new storage, is underway and expected to be in service in late 2013.