Insights - March/April 2018 - 34

INTERNATIONAL INTERMODAL NEWS
broke off, due to what published reports
said were automation-related issues.
"The two sides will continue to
negotiate Master Contract issues
and will encourage local port areas
to concurrently work out terms for
local agreements," the statement said.
"The ILA has received assurances
from USMX that issues and concerns
regarding automation have been
adequately addressed opening a path
toward successfully negotiating a new
agreement well before the current
Master Contract expires."
Union President Harold Daggett
and USMX Chairman David Adam
said, "USMX and the ILA want to keep
cargo moving and we are ready to put
in the effort to get this job done to
the satisfaction of employers and ILA
dockworkers."
During previous negotiations that
produced the current agreement,
several extensions were required to
prevent work stoppages, prompting
concern among shippers about cargo
disruptions and rerouting.

Cargo Diversion Fear
The announcement of the contract
resumption came one day after a
coalition of more than 100 shippers
and trade groups warned of cargo
diversions if there is a disruption in East

34 Intermodal Insights | March/April 2018

and Gulf Coast port operations due to a
labor action.
Labor also was in the news on the
West Coast, with the latest activity
related to driver classification in
Southern California. A state court suit
by attorneys Julie Dickinson and C.
Joe Sayas, naming XPO Logistics as
a defendant, was filed seeking class
action status.
The move was the latest in efforts
related to whether port drayage drivers
should be classified as independent
contractors or employees. The
Teamsters have been seeking to win
cases that would classify port truckers
as employees so they can attempt to
unionize them.
XPO has consistently said that
the drivers prefer to be independent
contractors. The Harbor Trucking
Association has estimated that at least
85 percent of Southern California port
drivers are independent contractors.

Port Development
Real estate development at the
Port of Oakland is continuing with the
announcement in early March that
construction could begin as soon as
this summer on a seaport logistics
complex that would be adjacent to
a newly built $100 million on-dock
railyard facility. CenterPoint has

targeted a 440,000 square foot facility
for the site, which once was a military
base.
"We're eager to get underway with
this project," said CenterPoint Chief
Development Officer Michael Murphy.
"We like the port's vision and we see this
partnership as the future of shipping
and logistics."
The Port of Oakland also announced
the first electric truck operation there.
In New Jersey, two Democratic
members of Congress, Donald Payne
and Albio Sires, asked Governor Phil
Murphy, also a Democrat, to revive
a ban on pre-2007 trucks at the port
complex. The Port Authority of New
York and New Jersey, which oversees
air quality on the docks, rejected that
approach two years ago in favor of
offering financial incentives to buy
newer trucks.
Gulf Coast activity included the
initial consideration of creating a new
container terminal in the New Orleans
area to provide additional capacity as
cargo grows in the region.
In other news, the South Atlantic
Chassis Pool, which serves the ports
of Savannah, Georgia and Charleston,
South Carolina, will be expanded by 25
percent as of July 1.
http://www.dart.net
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Insights - March/April 2018
