Maine gains from West Coast labor woes

PORTLAND – The dock shutdown on the West Coast is likely to mean more business for some ports along the Eastern Seaboard, according to the city official in charge of the Port of Portland.

The lockout of dockworkers at all 29 West Coast ports does not necessarily mean more ships will come to the East Coast, but some of those that do will carry more cargo containers that will need to be transferred to trucks once here.

“We notice that we’re picking up more of the Asian cargo,” said Jeff Monroe, the city’s transportation director. “We’re seeing extra boxes coming in and there’s some shifting … to accommodate the boxes as they come off the ship.”

Instead of roughly 30 containers a week, Monroe said as many as 60 are now expected. And North American companies also are expected to shift some export goods from Pacific to Atlantic coast routes.

The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping companies and terminal operators on the West Coast, has locked out about 10,500 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union since Sunday.

The port shutdown came at the most critical time for all kinds of retailers, from sellers of toys to electronics stores.

The West Coast dockworkers are represented by a different union, which is refusing to sign a new contract without guarantees that workers will not be displaced by new technologies.

Portland’s 45 dockworkers will be ready for any added heavy lifting, according to Jack Humeniuk, New England representative for the International Longshoremen’s Union.

Roughly $100 million worth of cargo – from clothes to computers to fish and liquor – travel through the Port of Portland each year.

The question, he said, was whether there would be room on the waterfront for containers once they are taken off ship.

“Our only problem is … there’s a lack of ground space here when the Scotia Prince is operating,” Humeniuk said. “I think in the short term you can probably lease some space, but it’s a long-term problem.”

Humeniuk and Monroe both said the east coast port operators and union workers currently enjoy a better relationship than is the case out west, as well as a contract that will last another two years.

And for now, Monroe said, the West Coast’s woes are the east’s opportunity. “It’s always good news when you have an increase in volume,” Monroe said.

“I’m sorry to see the fact that there’s labor unrest on the West Coast, but I think the reality is that all the ports compete with each other and any time something gives us an advantage – whether it be price or unrest or even the weather – the bottom line is we try to take advantage of it,” he said.